SEASIDE, Calif. – Dominican men's soccer nearly erased a three-goal second-half deficit Thursday evening, but its comeback bid came up just short in a 4-3 loss to Cal State Monterey Bay at Cardinale Stadium.
The Penguins (0-1-0) finished with a 21-9 advantage in shots and placed 10 attempts on frame, but Cal State Monterey Bay (1-0-0) was clinical with its chances, scoring four times on five shots on goal. Dominican generated 17 shots in the second half, including 15 after the Otters were reduced to 10 men in the 53rd minute.
Cal State Monterey Bay opened the scoring in the seventh minute as Philip Wolny drove into the left side of the box and pulled the ball back across the face of goal, where Kai Martin was waiting to knock it home with one touch. Dominican needed only 19 seconds to respond as
Anthony Stainer created space down the right side and sent a cross into the box for
Jake Kazlauskas, who put it away to tie the match at 1-1. The Otters struck again in the 11th minute with a similar build-up as Sylas Sells found room near the left end line and played the ball back across goal for Martin to finish his second of the match.
Dominican nearly tied it in the 29th minute as Stainer made another run down the right side and found
Brenon Kirkes in front of the net, but Griffin Welch was able to get a piece of it to steer it wide of the net. Cal State Monterey Bay then added to its lead in the 38th minute after again attacking the left side, this time playing the ball across the box to Samir Warner near the top-right edge of the 18-yard box before Warner slotted a shot inside the back post for a 3-1 advantage.
Dominican continued to create chances late in the first half as
Norman Tellez and Kirkes both forced saves, while
Patrick Zamora Salazar put another attempt on frame in the 42nd minute. The Penguins came out of the break aggressively, but Cal State Monterey Bay pushed the margin to 4-1 in the 51st minute as Sells delivered a cross near the top of the 6-yard box and Wolny knocked it home.
The match shifted less than two minutes later when Cal State Monterey Bay was shown a red card, and Dominican began to apply steady pressure. The Penguins pulled one back in the 69th minute as
Sebastian Jaral drove down the right side and crossed the ball to
Griffin Brophy, who finished from a tight angle near the right post by sending the ball back across goal and inside the far post.
Jaral cut the deficit to one in the 85th minute after getting behind the defense on a long through ball. He stopped inside the box to let a defender run past him before calmly slotting his shot home to make it 4-3. Brophy forced one more save in the 87th minute, and Jaral had another look in the 89th, but the Penguins were unable to find the equalizer before time expired.
Dominican will remain on the road as it returns to the pitch Saturday to take on UC Merced at 7 p.m. at Bobcat Field.
