POMONA -- Cal State LA's men's soccer team turned in outstanding performance Thursday in a showdown between nationally-ranked California Collegiate Athletic Association titans.

The No. 7 Golden Eagles got a goal from Carl Solli early in the second half and made it stand up in a 1-0 win over the No. 13 Broncos at Kellogg Stadium. Cal State LA (13-1-3, 7-1-3 CCAA) finished the conference regular-season in second place with 24 points, one point back of first-place Cal State Dominguez Hills, and earned a first-round bye in the CCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles will face the winner of Sunday's No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona and No. 6 seed Sonoma State in a semifinal match at Cal State San Bernardino next Friday.

Cal State LA is the two-time defending conference tournament champion.

The Golden Eagles, who started the day one point back of conference co-leaders Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills, did their part in an effort to win a third straight regular-season CCAA title with their win on Thursday. The Toros, though, maintained their share of first place with a win at Cal State Monterey Bay.

Cal State LA played a strong game from start to finish on Thursday, creating several good chances in the first half, taking the lead on a goal early in the second half and then doing admirable job of controlling the game after Cal Poly Pomona was forced to play a man down for the final 28 minutes of the contest following a red card.

Cal State LA had an 11-8 advantage in shots, including a 4-2 edge in the second half, and a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks, including a 2-0 edge in the second half.

Alvaro Unanua recorded one save to post the team's 10th shutout of the season. He was masterful gobbling up potentially dangerous crosses and controlling the game. 

Solli scored the game's only goal in the 48th minute after a nice set-up from Jeppe Paulsen, who controlled the ball on the left side of the box despite strong pressure from a Pomona defender. Paulsen got the ball to Alex Rodriguez in front and he dished the ball to Solli, who rifled a beautiful strike past a diving goalkeeper inside the far post. It was Solli's third goal of the season, all in the past five games. Paulsen picked up his third assist of the season, while Rodriguez also picked up his third.

Cal State LA had three outstanding chances in the opening half. Bryan Ortega took a hard shot that Cal Poly Pomona goalkeeper C.J. Walker made a spectacular diving stop to keep out of the net.

Ortega had another good shot about 14 minutes later that just went wide.

The best chance of the first half came courtesy of a Lucas Rosales shot from inside the box that hit the crossbar after nice passes from Jacob Chong and Tommaso Belli.

Cal State LA will now enjoy its first-round bye for the conference tournament and prepare for the semifinals next Friday. The Golden Eagles are making their 11th straight trip to the tournament and have reached the semifinals in all 11 appearances.