SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's soccer team continued its hot start to the 2017 campaign and stayed undefeated with Tuesday's 2-0 victory over Dominican.
The Gators (3-0-0) capitalized on a Dominican team that committed 12 fouls and was issued three cautions. In the 17th minute, the Gators drew a foul in the box and sophomore
Richard Leon converted the penalty kick for his second goal of the season and an early 1-0 lead. The Gators came close to doubling the lead in the 22nd minute but
Ranier Plantinos, who scored three goals through the Gators' first pair of matches, hit the crossbar.
"It came down to patience. I had a feeling they were going to come out and press us a little bit and for the most part we tried to keep our cool and just try to gain as much rythym as we could," said Head Coach
Javier Ayala-Hil. "It took some time to do it but overall we capitalized on situations in front of goal and that's what we've been doing all season so far."
SF State, which dominated possession in the first half, forced Dominican goalkeeper Christian Lathrop forward on a counter. Junior
Nigus Solomon played a ball across from the left side to about 10 yards from the top of the box and Lathrop went to intercept the pass but missed the ball. A streaking Sam Gebreimche took control and dribbled in and the junior fired into the empty net to make it 2-0 with less than a minute to go in the half.
In the 57th minute, Lathrop was issued a red card, which left the Penguins (1-1-0) a man down the remainder of the match. He departed with one save. Wyatt Walsh played the final 33 minutes and also made one save.
Kyle Harmina made a career-high six saves for the Gators. The sophomore recorded his second shutout of the season, including two quick back-to-back saves in the 75th minute.
SF State will look for its best start in over a decade on Friday, Sept. 8 when the Gators face Holy Names at Beach Chalet. The game is hosted by Academy of Art. Kickoff is slated for 10:30 a.m.
