Eagles Survive a Scare : Soccer: Cal State L.A. manages to win its fifth straight game, 2-1, against an unranked Cal Poly Pomona team despite an uninspired first half.

The Cal State Los Angeles soccer team did not play its best match of the season, but it was good enough to defeat Cal Poly Pomona on Wednesday.

Dino Torres scored two goals to lift the Golden Eagles to a 2-1 victory in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. match at Cal State L.A.

Cal State L.A., seeking its second CCAA title in three years, won its fifth in a row to improve to 13-1-1 and 5-1-0 in conference play.

The Golden Eagles trail Cal State Bakersfield (9-2-3, 5-0-1) in the battle for first place with four conference games remaining. The teams played Saturday in Bakersfield and will meet in the regular-season finale Nov. 5 at Cal State L.A.

“Pomona always gives us a difficult time,” Torres said. “We didn’t play very well. We’ve played better at other times of the season. But what matters is we got the victory. We came out lackadaisical and thought we were going to run over this team.”

There wasn’t much reason for the junior forward to believe otherwise.

The Golden Eagles, ranked seventh in NCAA Division II, were pitted against an unranked Cal Poly Pomona team with a record of 1-13-1 and 0-6-1 after Wednesday’s defeat.

There was another good omen for the Golden Eagles when Torres scored off a throw to give Cal State L.A. a 1-0 lead five minutes into the match. Cal State L.A. is 11-0 this season when the Golden Eagles score first.

But for the Golden Eagles, it was their only shot on goal in the first half. Pomona’s Roger Wirz scored on a rebound in the 23rd minute to tie the score.

“Pomona is not a bad team and has what it takes to come out with a victory,” said Cal State L.A. goalkeeper Claine Plummer, who had two saves.

Cal State L.A. regained the lead, 2-1, five minutes into the second half. Torres knocked in a pass from Dario Gomez from seven yards out for his ninth goal of the season.

The Golden Eagle defense took over from there, limiting the Broncos to one shot on goal in the second half. Cal State L.A. outshot Pomona, 9-8, in the match.

“We have to take one game at a time,” Torres said. “Now we can look ahead to Bakersfield. This is a team with character and we manage to pull things out and win when we need to.”