One Win Away! Cal State LA Will Play for a National Title Saturday in Pittsburgh
Interactive Bracket >>>
PITTSBURGH - Cal State LA used its tried and true formula of a first-half goal and lights-out defense to ignite a comprehensive 3-0 victory over the University of Indianapolis in the national semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championship on Thursday night at Highmark Stadium.
The national semifinals and final are being held at Highmark Stadium, home of Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC of the United Soccer League, for the second year in a row, co-hosted by Slippery Rock University and SportsPITTSBURGH.
Playing in its first national semifinal in nearly 40 years, since 1981, Cal State LA thoroughly outplayed UIndy and got all the offense it needed midway through the first half from redshirt freshman forward Carl Solli out of Sandefjord, Norway.
The result marked a first semifinal win for a CCAA team since Cal Poly Pomona in 2015. A CCAA men’s soccer program has made the semis in five-straight years.
The NCAA reseeded the final four sides after the quarterfinal round, with Cal State LA being tabbed the top seed, and UIndy landing at No. 4. Cal State LA advances to face Thursday’s late semifinal winner between second-seeded Charleston (WV) and No. 3 seed Lynn, in Saturday’s championship game at 12 p.m. PT. That match from Highmark Stadium can be watched for free online at NCAA.com.
Cal State LA will be in search of its first national title, and the league’s first in men’s soccer since Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2008.
| National Semifinal: No. 1 Cal State LA 3, No. 4 UIndy 0 |
Box Score |
CSULA postgame |
UIndy postgame
Solli had the first shot and first shot on goal of the contest for Cal State LA at the 9:03 mark. He caught up to a through ball into the penalty area on the right side, and his right-footed shot deflected off his closest defender before junior goalie Dimitrios Karousos knocked it out at the near post for the Golden Eagles’ first corner kick of the night. The ball was potentially already going wide of the target.
In the 20th minute, UIndy survived a double-scare, as senior captain Tim Klefisch shot directly at Karousos from the right diagonal, and then junior All-American David Elizaga fired high over the bar with a subsequent effort.
Then at 20:53, it was 1-0, when Cal State LA executed a counterattack to perfection, from a UIndy corner, no less. It looked like Klefisch headed the kick out to the left flank, where fellow senior Leonardo Nogueira gathered and sprinted down that side of the field, expertly dribbling by a defender. He finally produced a left-footed cross on the ground that the last Greyhound player slided for near the top of the box but missed. Solli, who was starting for just the fifth time but has begun all four games during this NCAA Championship, took a settling touch before putting a delicate right-footer past Karousos and into the bottom right from close range.
It was Solli’s seventh goal of the season to temporarily put him in a four-way tie atop the Golden Eagle scoring chart. He has now four goals and two assists in six matches during the postseason. Nogueira’s helper was his third, but he wasn’t done.
Cal State LA’s No. 2-ranked defense did not allow a shot to UIndy until just before the half-hour mark at 29:33, but even that was a hopeful attempt at best from the deep right diagonal by Kendall Allen that went well above the frame.
In the 39th minute, first-team All-American Golden Eagle Alexander Brems went down to his left for his first save of the contest, on third-team All-American UIndy forward Javier Steinwascher’s right-footed direct free kick, which skipped twice past the defensive wall en route to the Cal State LA senior goalkeeper.
Just over a minute later, Klefisch tested Karousos with a left-footed laser from outside the box, but the goalie caught it. Cal State LA was up 1-0 at the break.
Klefisch almost doubled the advantage again in the 54th, pouncing on a giveaway before putting his right-footer into the netting wide of the right post.
Junior Daniel Simonis, the 2018 CCAA Newcomer of the Year, clinched the victory at 80:07. Nogueira put a killer touch past his defender following a great through ball up the middle by what appeared to be fellow senior Carlos Zarate. The Brazilian’s right-footed shot was parried by Karousos, but the ball went straight up into the air, and Simonis was first to it to nod into the empty net. It was his sixth goal of 2019, with Nogueira picking up his second assist of the game and fourth for the year.
The Golden Eagles still had time for an exclamation point at 88:31. Senior Jose Tovar was taken down at the edge of the box and the match official pointed to the penalty spot. Who else but Klefisch, who was instrumental on both sides of the ball all night, stepped up and buried a right-footed try into the left side for his team-best eighth.
Cal State LA saw out the remaining seconds to wrap up its 15th shutout of the season, eclipsing last year’s 14 for what is likely to be a new program record. Junior All-American CCAA Defensive Player of the Year Morten Bjoershol, senior Antonio Rosas and junior twins Jose and Jorge Orellana played the full 90 in front of Brems.
Brems, from Odense, Denmark, wound up with five saves in posting his 14th individual clean sheet of 2019, which will make the CCAA Goalkeeper of the Year the statistical champion in that category, now in sole possession of the national lead. Karousos, a native of Athens, Greece, had five stops in net for the Greyhounds.
Cal State LA held a 16-13 shot advantage for the match. Klefisch led all players with six attempts and four of them on frame.
Third-ranked Cal State LA, the last unbeaten squad remaining in Division II men’s soccer, improved to 19-0-3. UIndy, unranked nationally in the final United Soccer Coaches national poll on Nov. 5, finishes its deepest-ever NCAA postseason run at 16-6-1. The Greyhounds, out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), were seeded just ninth before navigating through four-straight wins away from home to earn the inaugural 10-team Super Region 3 title last Sunday in Louisville, Ky.
Thursday marked the first-ever meeting between the teams. In its initial semifinal appearance back in 1981, Cal State LA defeated host Southern Connecticut State, 3-0, before falling to Tampa 1-0 in overtime in the championship game. The Golden Eagles are now 12-11-8 (.516) in their 14th NCAA postseason appearance.
For the second-consecutive game in this tournament, Cal State LA eliminated a team that had achieved its first-ever NCAA Championship victories. The Golden Eagles blanked CCAA rival Cal State San Bernardino in the Super Region 4 final Saturday, after the Coyotes had taken their first two matches ever in the tourney. UIndy’s four wins in this edition were its first successes, now 4-3-1 after a fourth appearance.