Freshman Nico De la Cruz (Port Orchard, Wash.) made his first career collegiate goal a memorable one, scoring with 11 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Seattle University men’s soccer team a 1-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation victory over Sacramento State Sunday afternoon at Championship Field.
Dale Garvey shares photos from the match with us.
As time was winding down, Troy Bratten (Gresham, Ore.) controlled the ball on the right side of the field and sent a crossing pass into the middle. De la Cruz gathered the ball, made a couple of moves to avoid the Sacramento State defense, and sent a shot past Hornet goalie Cesar Castillo into the lower left corner of the net to give the Redhawks their first conference victory of the season.
The other story of the match was the play of freshman goalkeeper Jake Feener (Rocklin, Calif.), who picked up his second shutout in as many matches and earned his first collegiate victory. Among his five saves was a flying tip over the crossbar off the foot of Chris Bettencourt in the 60th minute as well as another stop on a shot from Kasey Cox in the 70th minute during a flurry in front of the goal mouth.
“I am really proud of the guys today. The defense was strong, as we were able to earn our second shutout in a row. Sacramento State is a very good team, and they challenged us throughout the match. But we kept our heads on straight, and we found a way to win it at the end,” head coach Brad Agoos said.
Comments
Wow! These photos make me feel like I was right on the pitch! Excellent workd, Mr. Garvey.
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