CSUSM men’s soccer team beat Cal State Monterey Bay at CSUMB on Friday Oct. 7.

Right from the start of the game, the Otters were eager to score. Within the first ten minutes, they had three shots on goal. Fortunately, CSUSM goalkeeper Justin Tesar kept the Otter’s shots out of the net.

At eleven minutes, CSUSM freshmen Richard Flores scored his first goal of his college career thanks to a skillful pass from Diego Perez, giving the Cougars a 1-0 lead against the Otters.

The Otters continued to fire shots against Tesar throughout the rest of the first half with an attempt to even up the score but Tesar remained persistent in blocking the shots.

At the thirty minute mark, the Otter’s junior Nick Stanley scored his first goal of the season, ending the first half with a 1-1 tie.

During the second half, the two teams battled it out on the field but neither managed to capitalize off their attempts.

CSUSM junior Bryan Morrison had three corner kicks within a fifteen minute time-span, but the Cougars were unable to find the back of the net.

With fifteen minutes left on the clock, Cougar Parker Hodges drove the ball into the upper right corner of the goal, clinching the victory over the Otters, 2-1.

“Brilliant individual effort by Hodges to give us the lead and ultimately the win late in that game,” said Head Coach Ron Pulvers.

Coach Pulvers said his team knows how hard their future conference games will be they will never give up.

“The conference that we play is tough from top to bottom …We know the demands of the conference, and we work to regenerate our guys to be ready day in and day out,” said Pulvers.

Clearly the strategy is working, because the Cougars continue to win and improve.  The Cougars return home next weekend to face two more CCAA conference opponents.  The opponents are Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State L.A.