Zodiac’s Polowski Gets the Right Bounces to Defeat San Diego, 2-0

The Zodiac’s P.J. Polowski got credit for the game-winning goal, but it was a lucky bounce off Steve Patterson’s hip that put it in the net, leading the Zodiac to a 2-0 victory over San Diego Sunday at UC Irvine.

After a sloppy and scoreless first half, the Zodiac, playing with the man-advantage for 73 minutes, finally got a goal with eight minutes left in the game. Polowski drilled a shot from 20 yards that slammed off Patterson’s side and bounced up and into the corner of the goal.

“As usual, playing with a man-advantage, it’s hard for us to score,” Zodiac Coach Mike Gartlan said. “You need a little luck playing against a man-down, because all they do is fall back and play defense. Fortunately, we did get lucky.”

Forward Eddie Soto, sealed the victory with under a minute remaining, scoring his team-high fifth goal of the season on a breakaway. With San Diego goalkeeper Joe Cannon playing up, Soto took the ball down the middle of the field, juked around a sliding Cannon and jammed the ball into the goal.

The game was marred by five yellow cards, one ejection, bad passes and missed shots. But, it was the Zodiac (6-3), playing its fifth game in 10 days, who missed the most opportunities.

“We just weren’t sharp today,” Gartlan said. “I think it has a lot to do with the road trip. But, we have to be able to tough it out.”

Zodiac goalkeeper Mike Littman, who had two saves to earn his second shutout of the season, blamed the pace of the game on the referees.

“The refs left a lot to be desired,” Littman said. “The team can’t get in a rhythm when they are stopping the game every minute.”

With the loss, San Diego fell to 3-4.

The Zodiac will take a week off before facing Vancouver at 3 p.m. Sunday at UC Irvine.