UC San Diego Men's Soccer Snags First-Ever CCAA Tournament Title
Boxscore
SSU postgame | UCSD postgame
TURLOCK – UC San Diego senior striker Sam Palano fired a shot into the bottom left corner of the net 3:30 into overtime as the 10th-ranked Tritons rallied past Sonoma State, 2-1, in the 2016 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament final Sunday at Warrior Stadium on the campus of host Stanislaus State.
For top-seeded UC San Diego, the result meant a first-ever CCAA Tournament title, to go along with its first CCAA championship from the regular season. The Tritons move to 16-2-2 overall. Second seed Sonoma State dropped to 10-4-5 on the season.
It was a just finish and reward for what was arguably one of UCSD's best performances of the season, especially after going down a goal. At 34:07, Sonoma State was awarded a penalty kick for a foul in the penalty box on a play that didn't look like it was really even going to cause a danger for fifth-year senior Triton goalkeeper Cameron McElfresh. Junior center back Eric Alvarado powered his fourth successful PK on the season into the upper right for a 1-0 Seawolf advantage.
The Tritons found their equalizer in the 66th. A right-sided de la Cal throw-in was headed up into the air by a Sonoma State defender. With his back to goal on the right diagonal, true freshman holding central midfielder Jonathan Stoop produced a right-footed overhead kick with his left foot on the ground, and the ball looped into the left-side netting for his first collegiate goal.
The game winner started with redshirt junior striker Malek Bashti, who dribbled down the right flank and played it to Palano, whose shot was true from around the penalty spot for his team-best sixth. It was Bashti's seventh assist, which ties him for the team lead with Palano.
McElfresh, the CCAA Defensive Player of the Year, collected one save. Junior Mitch North wound up with two stops for Sonoma State.
UCSD entered the weekend as the No. 2 ranked squad in the West Region and anticipate to serve as one of two regional tournament next week. SSU, who entered the weekend as the sixth-ranked team in the West, will now await word on their NCAA postseason fate as the 2016 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship Tournament field will be unveiled via a live selection show on NCAA.com Monday at 3:30 pm.
11 players earned All-Tournament honors, including six Tritons, including McElfresh, Duerksen, Riley Harbour, Uly de la Cal. UCSD's Kuba Waligorski and Sam Palano were tabbed the Most Defensive Player and Most Offensive Player, respectively. Earning All-Tournament honors from Sonoma State was Josh Sanchez, Andrew Ogilvy, and Eric Alvarado. Cal State LA's Samuel Croucher and Cal State San Bernardino's Daniel Looker rounded out the 11-member team.