Hayward- The Warrior’s men’s soccer team dominated the first game of the NCAA championship tournament against Notre Dame de Namur (3-2), yet lost the second round to Simon Fraser University (2-1) this past weekend. 

On Thursday’s game, California State University, Stanislaus took the lead early in the game.  

Sophomore Carlos Gavino, the CCAA tournament’s most valuable player, scored the first goal of the game in the sixth minute for the Warriors.  

The Arognauts’ Jonathan Gonzalez quickly retaliated and scored during the eighth minute. Warrior’s senior Jesse Horta struck in the 29th minute to put Stanislaus in the lead once again, while Omar Herrera tied up the game in the 41st minute for Notre Dame de Namur.  Sophomore Daniel Kuczynski broke the tie in the 78th minute to win the game for Stanislaus 3-2.

On Saturday, Stanislaus matched up against Simon Fraser University (SFU), taking the lead in the 19th minute with a score by freshman Josue Barjas.  Simon Fraser quickly scored twice in nine minutes in the second half taking the lead, which they held onto until the completion of the game.

“Simon Fraser is the number two team in the country, and I thought we executed the game plan correctly and had a legitimate shot to win that game,” head coach Dana Taylor said. 

 “We learned a lot about our team, about each other. [I’m] so proud of the accomplishments of the upperclassman and now the underclassmen have their sights set on another great year next year.”

Sophomore Clint Long had 7 saves for the Warriors while SFU outshot Stanislaus 17-11.

“I was so proud of the guys how they came together, battled, believed in each other and we kept getting better as the season went on,” Taylor said. 

“I thought we had a tremendous first-half missed some great opportunities with the goalkeeper, but at the in the day, that’s the game of soccer.”
The men’s soccer team finished the season with a CSU Stanislaus record of 12-5-3, the best in the program’s history.