TURLOCK, Calif. - The Cal Poly Pomona men's soccer team, in yet another first in this spectacular season, secured a victory in the Callifornia Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament championship match on Sunday against the Warriors of Cal State Stanislaus. The Broncos scored early and the match was tied up, went through two overtimes and on to penalty kicks where the Broncos needed only three shots to put the game away.
"I couldn't be more proud of our team," said head coach
Yossi Raz. "They played very well through the whole tournament and to walk away with the first CCAA Tournament championship in program history, it's something amazing. We have worked hard all season and the men knew that it would be a very difficult match against a quality CCAA opponent, there were a couple moments where we let our guard down and Stanislaus made the best of it."
The Broncos' first goal occurred after a CPP offensive push where
Luis Najera Jr. sent a long pass to
Armando Ochoa. Ochoa then threaded the needle with a short cross to
Daniel Garcia Jr. The senior from Lakewood sent the ball across the goal and into the bottom left side of the net. The goal marked his first of the postseason, third of the year, and put the Broncos up 1-0 with just under 42 minutes to play in the first half.
The first half saw the Warriors' offense show a level of perseverance that is rivaled by few in the game today. CPP's defense had to earn its stay as the opposition took a total of six shots on goal, which resulted in a first half total of three impressive saves for
Fernando Pablo Quevedo.
After the break and in the 55
th minute, the Warriors pulled even with the Broncos after a well-placed slide tackle, Carlos Gavino of Stanislaus dished a beautiful pass to Ramiro Ceja, who sent a bouncing header to the left of the CPP net-minder. The goal was his first of the postseason and brought the Warriors to a 1-1 tie with the Broncos.
Regulation time ended with a game-score of 1-1. The Warriors outshot the Broncos with 11 shots to the Broncos' nine. Pablo Quevedo added two more saves in the second while the CSUS goalkeeper registered two saves of his own.
With the two teams defenses playing with the vigor of a team playing its last game, the next 10 minutes of the game were the first overtime. Despite many close calls, neither team was able to gain an advantage. The first overtime came and went and ushered in the second round of overtime. Another grueling and nail-biting ten minutes for the two CCAA opponents and overtime would end with a end of play score at 1-1, sending the two teams to penalty kicks to decide the CCAA Champions.
The Broncos nationally-ranked goalie Pablo Quevedo walked to the penalty box, knowing that the game would rest on his shoulders. The Warriors had the first shot and their kicker booted a shot that hit the post and bounced away from the goal.
Bronco
Armando Ochoa was first to kick for CPP. His shot found the back of the net and the Broncos went up 1-0. CSUS' next kicker attempted to skim one past the CPP keeper but his shot was stopped short as the Broncos remained 1-0 in the lead.
Daniel Garcia Jr., who would go on to win the Tournament Most Outstanding Offensive Player Award, came up next and sent one by the Warrior keeper to put his squad up 2-0. The next kicker for the Warriors sent another shot that the Broncos' star goalie would block.
The final shot of the day for the Broncos was
Daniel Asor who would find the net and win the Broncos the Championship with a 3-0 score in PKs.
"Looking forward," said Raz, "we will be recooping our bodies and preparing for the next match. For now, we will enjoy the victory, but coming up we have a lot of work to do."
The five members of the Broncos' squad who made the All CCAA Tournament Team were:
