CORVALIS, Ore.. ? The CSUB men's soccer team played 20 minutes worth of its best soccer Saturday night. But the effort went for naught as a misplayed set piece allowed Oregon State to regain the lead late in the second half en route to a 4?2 win in Coravlis, Ore.
“After a sluggish start, we played a brilliant 20 minutes of soccer ? as well as we've played all season,” said CSUB Head Coach Simon Tobin. “We had them locked down, but we didn't defend set pieces well and allowed them to retake the lead against the run of play.
“They are a very good team but we had the chance to get a better result. Once they went up 3?2 it was over for us.”
OSU (7?10?0 overall) scored twice in rapid succession early in the match. Alex Christensen headed home a Tim Kelly throw in for a 1?0 lead in the 14th minute. Nick Webb made it 2?0 for the Beavers when he scored from the doorstep just four minutes later.
Bakersfield (3?11?4) pulled one goal back in the 21st minute when Joe Polifroni finished a crisp series of passes from Towa Manda and Robbie Gouk. Out?shot 11?2 in the first half, the Roadrunners were fortunate to reach the interval down just 2?1.
Early in the second half, however, the tide turned. It took CSUB just five minutes to equalize when Manda found the upper right corner after some nice prep work from Polifroni and Alberto Navarro. Although the 'Runners had OSU on the ropes, Christensen dashed any hopes of an upset when he finished off a throw in for the second time in the match at the 72:52 mark.
Robby Christner added the coup des grace in the 84th minute to account for the final margin.
The Roadrunners will take a week off before closing out the regular season Saturday night against Alabama A&M on the CSUB Main Soccer Field.
