SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State men's soccer team kept its playoff hopes alive on Friday afternoon with a thrilling 1-0 victory over visiting Cal State San Marcos at Cox Stadium.
- The Golden Gators (4-7-4/2-5-2 CCAA) now find themselves out of last place and into 10th place with eight points in the CCAA standings. However, the Gators could move into the sixth and final playoff spot if the chips fall in their favor. A win on Sunday could potentially make the final match of the season at Sonoma State a winner-takes-all match for one of the final playoff spots.
- The Cougars drop to 5-8-3 overall and 3-4-2 in CCAA action.
- The Golden Gators outshot the Cougars 10-6, including 4-3 on goal.
- Each team attempted four yellow cards.
- With the win, the Gators snapped a five-match skid. Gustavo Ferrari's goal was his fifth of the season. It was also the Gators' first goal in six matches and the first since September 30. The goal was SF State's first goal at home dating back to September 17.
- Four of the five yellow cards in Friday's match went against the Gators.
The teams played to a scoreless first half. The Cougars attempted two shots on goal while Kendrick Rivas fired the Gators' only shot on goal of the first half in the 43rd minute.
The teams were more aggressive in the second half. The Gators fired off nine shots in the second half and had some close calls at both ends. Gustavo Ferrari's shot in the 80th minute from the left side bent towards the goal but just wide. The Cougars countered at the other end but Curtis Collazos' shot went just wide and bounced off of the backup ball sitting out of play. Ferrari had another shot in the 86th minute saved as well and with under three minutes to go, Johnny Kuwano had a point-blank look but couldn't find his footing and tapped it wide right. Ferrari followed but bent the ball wide right. Then, the Gators netted the game-winner with seven seconds remaining. The Gators defense played a ball back to Matias Herrera Fuentes but his pass was blocked. Fortunately, the Gators defended the Cougars corner kick. The Gators countered on a high-arcing ball from Yeonhyuk Kwak. Gustavo Ferrari made the touch, then beat the goalkeeper and finished from the left side with seven seconds remaining for the game-winner.
Matias Herrera Fuentes notched his fifth shutout of the season with three saves and improved to 3-6-3 on the year. Tony Flores made three saves at the other end for the Cougars but falls to 1-3-2.
SF State hosts Cal State San Bernardino on Sunday for the team's final regular-season home match of the season. The Gators will honor their nine seniors in a pregame ceremony: Andres Alfaro, Danny Estrada, Matias Herrera Fuentes, DiAngelo Gleaves, Manuell Kariuki, Jared MacDonald, Mats Risto Kippe, Justin Wolfe, and Pedro Zorraquin. That match will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_msoc.
