BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The Cal State Bakersfield men's soccer team remained perfect at home, pulling within one–point of first place Cal State L.A. with a 5–2 victory over the Golden Eagles Wednesday night on the CSUB Main Soccer Field.
The final score was indicative of neither the flow of play nor the wild action when center referee Martik Mirikian called one of the most statistically uneven matches in Roadrunner soccer history.
Senior forward Lyle Martin scored his league–leading 12th and 13th goals of the season inside the first 18 minutes to stake the Roadrunners to a 2–0 lead. But where Cal State L.A. had no answer for Martin, Mirikian did.
The usually mild–mannered Martin had received no red cards and just four yellow cards in 77 career matches entering Wednesday's game. He picked up his fifth career yellow and his first career red within 20 seconds after questioning Mirikian's awarding of a second penalty to the Golden Eagles in the 54th minute.
The cards were two of the three shown to Roadrunner players against just six fouls on the evening. By contrast, Cal State L.A. was whistled for 22 fouls but just two cards. After the match, Mirikian retroactively awarded CSUB Head Coach Simon Tobin a red card for dissent with about 15 minutes to play, although he clearly did not show a card at the time as he was by rule required to do.
When the focus of play was on the field Wednesday night, fans saw an entertaining game in which Cal State L.A. controlled the flow of play for the majority of the match, but could not solve the Roadrunner counter attack that proved the match's decisive element.
After Martin's first goal in the third minute, Cal State L.A. created several dangerous scoring opportunities only to see Martin finish a Ryan Gay cross on a counter for a 2–0 lead. CSLA had a golden opportunity to halve the lead in the 29th minute, but Steve Trojanowski denied Dennis Idrissa on L.A.'s first penalty kick of the night.
Marcus Mulick and Rigoberto Peña scored bookend goals around halftime, both on assists from Gay, to make the lead 4–0 before Morten Marthinson buried a penalty following the Martin's red card to make it 4–1.
Playing with the man advantage, the Golden Eagles made it 4–2 in the 78th minute when a Roadrunner defender cleared the rebound from a Patrick Thurston shot into the goal. Fabio Joaquim then closed the scoring against the run of play again, finishing a nice wall pass from Gay in the 83rd minute.
CSUB (9–3–2, 5–3–2 CCAA) returns to action Friday, hosting Chico State. CSLA (7–5–1, 6–4–0) hosts Cal State Stanislaus Friday.
California State University, Bakersfield Athletic Department
9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1022
Phone: (661) 654-3071 • FAX: (661) 654-2376
