SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican men's soccer held on for the 2-1 victory over UC Santa Cruz in its home opener Tuesday at Kennelly Field.

The Penguins (1-0-1) controlled the pace of play with 14 shots and six on goal while limiting the Banana Slugs (0-2-1) to four shots with two on goal. The Penguins also held an 8-1 advantage in corner kicks.

After failing to find the go ahead goal over the first 40 minutes, junior midfielder Chris Barrios sent a corner kick to the back post where junior defender Louie Galdamez headed the ball down and into the back netting for his first goal of the season. UCSC attempted to equalize with a shot in the final seconds of the half, but it fell harmlessly into the arms of junior goal keeper Sam Prusynski and Dominican took the 1-0 lead into the break.

Freshman defender Jason Bolfango and senior midfielder Roberto Garcia each had scoring opportunities to start the second half, but Arman Salimi made the saves for the Banana Slugs. In the 71st minute, sophomore midfielder Aboubacar Cisse found freshman winger Alexandre Bernier running down the left side and he made one move to lose a defender at the top-left corner of the 18-yard box before sending a curling ball just inside the far post for the 2-0 lead. 

UCSC was able to answer with a goal from Paolo Santiago in the 77th minute after he collected a deflected clearance and put the ball in the back netting to cut the lead in half. However, the Penguins would not allow another clean look at goal over the final 13 minutes of play to take the victory. 

Dominican will return to the pitch Thursday to take on Stanislaus State at 3:30 p.m. PDT at Kennelly Field.