HONOLULU — The San Francisco State men's soccer team opened the season with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Chaminade at Saint Louis Field. The Gators held a 2-1 advantage until goal in the 85 minute tied the match up. Thirty seconds later, the Gators scored and held on for the win.
- The Gators open the season with a win for the first time since the 2018 season when they beat ART U 2-0 to open the season.
- Chaminade was picked to finish 11th in the Pac West Conference.
- Georgi Stoyanov and Nathan Garcia, who both scored for the Gators, both joined the team this season as junior college transfers.
- Angel Herrera was awarded a yellow card but five different players on Chaminade also received yellow cards.
- Julio Gonzalez Ponce, a CCAA Honorable Mention Honoree from a season ago, scored his eighth career goal.
- Both teams were even with 12 shots apiece.
Gators got to work quickly. Ruben Huerta passed from the left corner and found Nathan Garcia on the right side of the box for a goal nearly two and a half minutes into the game. Chaminade equalized in the 21st minute with a goal high left coming from a corner kick. A foul in the box gave Ponce a chance to break the tie. Ponce went left and the Gators went up 2-1 at the 61 minute mark.
With less than five minutes left, Kainoa Carpenter scored the equalizer to tie things at 2-2. It took all of thirty seconds for the Gators to respond. Giovanni Nieves passed a through ball to Stoyanov and Stoyanov beat a charging keeper for the game winning goal.
Fernando Escobedo Guzman started the first 45 minutes, allowing one goal and making one save. Mario De La Torre (1-0) played the second half, allowing a goal while making one save. Jonah Valmonte allowed three goals and made four saves for Chaminade.
SF State will remain in Hawaii and play Hawaii Pacific on September 7 at 6 pm HST. Link for live video is here. Live stats will be available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstate_msoc.
