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Bulldogs Woes At San Diego Continue With 3-0 Loss
Oct. 10, 2008
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - There's something about San Diego, Calif., that doesn't sit well with Gonzaga University's men's soccer team. The Bulldogs woes at the University of San Diego continued Friday night when the home standing Toreros handed Gonzaga a 3-0 West Coast Conference defeat. Since joining the WCC for the 1993 season, Gonzaga is 2-8-0 at USD, 2-9-0 if you throw in a 1992 non-conference match as Gonzaga tested the waters of some WCC teams prior to its first official year in the league. Friday's shutout was the sixth the Bulldogs have suffered at USD and the third straight at Torero Stadium since Gonzaga posted a 3-2 victory in 2005. It was also the Toreros third straight shutout in the series, USD taking a pair of 1-0 victories last season, including a 1-0 overtime victory at Gonzaga. USD's Kelin Briones continued his mastery of Gonzaga. In three career starts over the past two seasons Briones has yet to allow a goal and has 11 saves against the Bulldogs. USD scored the only goal it would need Friday when JT Howlan converted a penalty kick at 19:06 for his team-leading third goal of the season. Gonzaga's Tim Muravez was called for a foul on a slide tackle of Dane McCleary in front of the goalie box. Howlan stutter-stepped on his approach, Gonzaga keeper Scott Barnum dove to his right and Howlan shot low to his right for the score. The Toreros picked up a late first-half goal to take a 2-0 lead to intermission, Kyle Ochoa finding the net at 44:15 for his second goal of the season. The Toreros stretched the lead to 3-0 when Trevor May scored his first goal of the season at 59:56 off an assist from Howlan. Gonzaga's best chance for a score came in the 61st minute when Tim Muravez' shot off a Ben Funkhouser corner was blocked by the defense and cleared.
USD held a 16-8 shots edge and had an 8-5 advantage in shots-on-goal. Both keepers had five saves. Each team was whistled for 20 fouls in the physical contest and Gonzaga was given three yellow cards to two for USD. The WCC race got tighter following Friday's action. The University of San Francisco suffered its first league loss of the season 3-1 at home to Saint Mary's College, and Loyola Marymount University topped visiting University of Portland 1-0. Gonzaga (2-2-0), San Diego (2-0-0), San Francisco (2-1-0) and Saint Mary's (2-1-0) are all tied for the top spot with 6 points. LMU is 1-1-0, Portland 1-3-0 and Santa Clara University 0-2-0. The Bulldogs visit LMU Sunday for a 2 p.m. match. |
