Bay Area Men’s College Soccer: Cal Comes Back to Tie Santa Clara, SJSU Upsets Grand Canyon, Saint Mary’s Falls to OSU

Santa Clara (7-1-3) vs Cal (2-8-2)

The Golden Bears overcame a three-goal deficit in the final 17 minutes of regulation to earn a hard-fought 3-3 draw at Santa Clara on Saturday evening.

Christian Gomez
Cal defender Christian Gomez (15) assisted on the Bears’ third goal in their 3-3 draw at Santa Clara on Saturday evening. (Courtesy of UC Berkeley, CREDIT: Robert Duran.)

The Broncos appeared to be in control of the match, thanks a brace from Dominic Vegaalban in the first 14 minutes of the match. In the 7th minute, Jack Murphy’s header set up a battle for the ball between Vegaalban, Cal defender Kevin Carmichael and goalkeeper Chris Gustini. Vegaalban got his foot on the ball first and redirected it into the net. Vegaalban’s 14th minute goal was set up by a Javier Ruiz Duran backheel to Joshua Dabora in front of the goal. Gustini made a kick save on Dabora’s shot, but Vegaalban was perched at the 6-yard line to convert on the rebound.

Oladayo Thomas added the third goal in the 22nd minute. Ruiz Duran chipped the ball into the box, Thomas rushed into the open space, along with Gustini and two Cal defenders. Thomas’s header proceeded slowly toward the goal. Cal’s JJ Foe Nuphaus made an unsuccessful attempt to clear it, then a successful one, but the referee ruled that the ball had crossed the line.

Collin Travasos replaced Gustini in goal in the second half and kept the Bears in the match with key saves on a shot from Tyrone Kirunda at point blank range in the 49th minute and a Thomas shot and Ruiz Duran rebound in the 61st.

And then Bears came storming back, scoring 3 times in 12 minutes to even up the match.

It began in the 73rd minute, when Wyatt Meyer headed home a cross from Evan Davila.

Three minutes later, Shoei Honda took a pass from Nate Carrasco to score from close range.

In the 85th minute, Carrasco scored a goal of his own, heading home a cross from Christian Gomez.

The two teams were evenly matched in overtime. Travasos stopped a shot by Kirunda in the 93rd minute, the only shot that required a save by either goalkeeper.

San José State (6-5-2, 4-1-1)

The Spartans stunned #10 Grand Canyon (10-2-0, 5-1-0) with two goals in the first 18 minutes, and held on for a 2-1 home victory on Saturday night.

San José State opened the scoring in the 10th minute when Max Allen intercepted a pass near midfield and played a give and go with Rudi Castro. Allen’s long through ball found Willy Miranda unmarked on the left side. Miranda’s left-footed shot went over goalkeeper Anthony Muñoz’s head and settled into the upper right corner of the net.

Kasper Poulsgaard added the second in the 18th minute off of a set piece. Allen took the corner kick and played a short ball to Castro along the touchline. Castro’s cross found Poulsgaard perched at the near post and Poulsgaard headed it home, as he and a Lopes defender fell to the turf.

The Lopes got one back 3 minutes before halftime. Kaden Cameron made a run into the 6-yard box and sent a screamer across the goalmouth; Tosh Yasuda was perfectly positioned to stick out his left foot and redirect the ball into the net.

Both goalkeepers made excellent saves to keep the second half scoreless. In the 48th minute, Yasuda was wide open in the box, with SJSU goalkeeper David Sweeney out of position after colliding with two Lopes attackers. Sweeney got up, quickly backpedaled, and extended himself to smother Yasuda’s shot attempt without yielding a rebound.

In the 83rd minute, Muñoz made a diving stop on a shot by Miranda, getting just enough of his hand on the ball to deflect it away, then gathering in the rebound before the Spartans’ Omar Lemus could strike.

The Lopes got off 2 shots in the final 3 minutes of the contest, but the Spartans were able to hold on for their first win over a top ten opponent since 2005.

Saint Mary’s (8-4-1, 1-0-1)

Oregon State (8-1-2, 3-0-1) grabbed an early lead and Tyrone Mondi added a second half brace in the Beavers’ 4-0 win over the visiting Gaels on Friday evening.

The 13th ranked team in the nation took control in the 14th minute, when Carlos Moliner laid the ball off to Tsiki Ntsabeleng making a run along the right side of the penalty area. Ntsabeleng’s cross found Adrian Crespo in a crowd of defenders at the edge of the 6-yard box. Crespo slid to one knee and blasted a shot into the roof of the net.

Oregon State’s Tyrone Mondi (17) scored twice in the Beavers’ 4-0 win over visiting Saint Mary’s on Friday night. (Courtesy of Oregon State University, CREDIT: Scobel Wiggins)

The Beavers extended their lead 8 minutes later, when Sofiane Djeffal’s long ball from near midfield found Adrian Molina-Diaz behind the Gaels’ back line. Molina-Diaz let the ball bounce twice, then took a left-footed one-timer that Gael goalkeeper Kash Oladapo couldn’t reach, while the Gaels appealed for offside.

The Gaels earned a penalty kick in the 34th minute, when Riley Lynch executed a give-and-go with Valentin Kurz and was taken down in the penalty area. Sebastian Schacht’s kick was headed for the bottom left corner, but goalkeeper Adrian Fernandez made a diving save to preserve the clean sheet, one of 5 saves he made in the match.

Two minutes into the second half, Mondi trapped a cross from Molina-Diaz with his right foot, switched the ball over to his left, and fired a left-footed shot into the upper right corner of the net.

Mondi earned the brace in the 64th minute, set up by Ntsabeleng’s long ball from near midfield. Mondi cut back toward the middle to elude the Gaels’ James Person. Oladapo rushed out to cut down the angle but couldn’t get a hand on Mondi’s right-footed shot from the edge of the six-yard box.

Stanford (4-5-3, 1-3-1)

The Cardinal earned a point on the road in their 1-1 draw at Denver University on Saturday afternoon.

After a scoreless first half, Stanford got on the board first in the 52nd minute. Ousseni Bouda sent a long free kick into the box and Keegan Hughes headed the ball to the near post, out of the reach of goalkeeper Will Desantis.

Stanford’s Will Reilly (20) takes on two Denver University defenders on Saturday afternoon. The match ended in a 1-1 tie. (Courtesy of Denver University, CREDIT: Brittany Evans)

The Pioneers evened the match in the 78th minute. A long ball out of the back found Ronan Wynne with room to run along the right side. Wynne tried to go around a Cardinal defender in the box; there was a collision and the referee called a penalty kick.

Stefan DeLeone took the penalty. Goalkeeper Matt Frank dove to the right side and made the save, but the rebound caromed right back to DeLeone, whose right-footed blast to the far post gave Frank no chance.

USF (1-7-1, 0-1-1)

The Dons didn’t play this week.