UCSD Soccer Team Puts History to Rest
It didn’t take long for the UC San Diego men’s soccer team to put superstition and Cal State Stanislaus to rest in the final of the NCAA Division III Far West-Midwest Regional Sunday afternoon.
UCSD scored 3 unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes and went on to defeat Cal State Stanislaus, 4-2. The Tritons (20-0-2), ranked fourth in the nation and top-seeded in the region, advance to the quarterfinals against Emory, which defeated North Carolina Wesleyan, 1-0, to win the South Regional. The site and date of the game will be determined today.
The victory broke a pattern that the Tritons set last season and certainly didn’t want to repeat.
Last season, UCSD defeated a team from Minnesota, St. Thomas, 5-0, behind a hat trick by Scott Rommel in the first round. But the Tritons couldn’t score in the final and eventually lost to Cal State San Bernardino, 3-2, on penalty kicks.
Saturday, UCSD defeated Macalester--another team from Minnesota--again by 5 goals, 6-1, with Rommel again scoring a hat trick.
But that’s where the similarities ended.
Thien Nguyen, who attended Madison High School, scored on a tough angle shot from the right side 4 minutes 44 seconds into the match to give the Tritons an early lead.
Rommel scored twice to give him 5 goals and an assist in 2 playoff games. Rommel had 7 goals and an assist during the 20-match regular season.
“Today they were trying to key on me,” Rommel said. “I find when I’m hot, opposing coaches try to do that. During the season I’d get in a slump and lose my confidence.”
Rommel scored at 6:50 and Carrick Brewster added a goal at 10:02 to give UCSD a quick 3-0 lead. The Triton defense shut down Cal State Stanislaus (13-5-1), allowing only 5 shots on goal. Two were penalty kicks by Jose Ramos-Castaneda that accounted for the Warrior goals.
“They have two excellent forwards and we needed to nullify them,” UCSD Coach Derek Armstrong, said. “We had to get after them so they couldn’t set the ball.”
The UCSD women’s team defeated Cortland State, 2-0, on an icy field at St. Paul, Minn., to advance to the semifinals against Ithaca College at a site and date to be determined.
Toni Krumme and Felicia Faro scored for UCSD, which is ranked third in the nation in Division III. Krumme, a defender who did not have a goal or assist in the regular season, scored 3 goals in the 2 regional games.