CSUDH Men's Soccer Weekly Release
November 13, 2001

THIS WEEK IN TOROS SOCCER
Nov. 18 #4 CSUDH @ #11 West Texas A&M The Buffalo Pitch, 1 pm

LOOKING AHEAD: The Toros will travel this week for NCAA quarterfinal action taking on Midwest Region champion West Texas A&M in Canyon, TX. WTAMU advanced with a 4-0 win on Sunday over Fort Lewis (CO).

TITLE DEFENSE CONTINUES WITH 1-0 WIN OVER BAKERSFIELD: The Toros began its NCAA title defense with a hard-fought 1-0 shutout win over archrival Cal State Bakersfield in the NCAA Far West Region Championship Game at Toro Field. Both team's battled to a scoreless tie in the first half which was not exactly what Toros head coach Joe Flanagan was hoping for.

Flanagan -- "We had opportunities in the first couple of minutes but didn't finish our chances."

The first period was a great defensive struggle as both squads managed only five shots between them with CSUDH holding a 3-2 edge. CSUDH broke the scoreless game with a beautiful goal in the 56th minute. Sophomore midfielder Chris Wimmer (Fountain Valley HS) sent a nice cross into the penalty box from the right corner. His pass found junior forward Gabriel Valencia (Salesian HS) who headed in his shot to the near post past Roadrunner goalkeeper Josh Wicks who had no chance to make the save. The Toros defense and senior goalie Luis Morales (Banning HS) made the goal stand up as they held on for the shutout.

"CSUDH came out to play a different game," said CSUB head coach Simon Tobin. "They've been here before and that makes all the difference. They got behind us once in the second half and that was the difference in the match."

Experience is always a key ingredient to a team's success, however, it becomes even more important in the postseason.

"I thought our experience got us through some tight spots," said Flanagan. "We were able to keep our heads in a very physical match which is a sign of maturity."

In the game, CSUDH outshot the 'Runners 12-7 including 9-5 in the second half. Luis Morales earned the win in goal and 10th shutout of the season with three saves.

TOROS VS. 'WTAMU SERIES NOTES: This is the fourth all-time series meeting between the Toros and the Buffs with WTAMU holding a 2-1 series edge. Last year, CSUDH defeated the Buffs for the first time 2-0 in the NCAA quarterfinals which advanced them to the championship tournament at Barry University. The first meeting came during the '96 season when the Toros dropped an 0-1 result here in Carson in the last game of the year. In 1997, CSUDH lost to the Buffs 0-1 in Canyon, TX.

ABOUT THE BUFFS: The Buffs own a 15-3-1 overall record after winning the Midwest Region championship game on Sunday 4-0 over Fort Lewis. WTAMU is ranked No. 11 in the NSCAA polls and have won eight of their past nine matches. The team is 7-1-0 in home games, 6-1-1 on the road and 2-1-0 on neutral sites. West Texas has outscored the opposition 115-40 with a 46-16 goal and 23-8 assists advantage. Junior forward Davy Arnaud leads the Buffs with 29 points on 13 goals and three assists. Senior midfielder Marcus Rullow follows with 18 points with nine goals. Junior defender Clay King and junior forward Tyler Short have scored in double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively. Goalies Paul Hart and Matt Corley have split time between the posts. Hart has compiled a 0.82 goals against average allowing eight goals in 11 games. Corley leads the two with five shutouts while compiling a 0.83 GAA allowing eight goals in 10 games.

THE COACH: Head coach Joe Flanagan is in his eighth season at the helm of the Toros program. Last year Flanagan led CSUDH to their first-ever national championship with a 2-1 four-overtime victory over Barry University in Miami Shores, FL. The squad finished with a 23-1-1 record, the best mark in the NCAA. Flanagan, the 2000 NCAA II National Coach of the Year, became the Toros all-time winningest coach earlier this year and now is 101-50-8 (.660). Flanagan won his 100th career game when the Toros shutout UC Davis 1-0 in the CCAA Championship game. CSUDH has now won the past three CCAA titles. Coach Flanagan was named the 2001 CCAA Coach of the Year for the second season in a row.

MORALES IS A TEN: Senior goalie Luis Morales continues to break his own all-time record for shutouts in a season. Earlier this year, Morales broke the record with his eighth shutout of the year. Since then, he has notched two more goose eggs and now has 10 shutouts this year; three more than the previous record (7) set by Steve Martin (1982) and Chris Wilson (1988).

TOROS IN THE POSTSEASON: This is the fourth NCAA appearance with the Toros posting a 5-2-0 record in postseason play. CSUDH's first appearance was in 1982 where they lost in the quarterfinals (0-2) to Missouri-St. Louis. The team then qualified for the NCAA's in 1988 but lost to Cal State Northridge 3-1 in the opening round. In that game, current head coach Joe Flanagan scored the Toros lone goal. Then came the 11-year drought followed by last years magical championship season. Going into Sunday's contest, the Toros have won 5-straight NCAA playoff games.

LEADING THE STAMPEDE: The Toros are now 18-2-1 and ranked No. 11 in the final NSCAA regular season polls. CSUDH has six players scoring in double figures. Sean Lockhart leads the squad with 41 points (15g, 11a). Gabriel Valencia ranks second with 27 points (12g, 3a). Eddie Gonzales-Pinto (N. Torrance HS) has tallied 17 points (7g, 3a). Rick Cobb (Warren HS) has scored 16 points in his freshman campaign while Scott White and Victor Guerrero (Century HS) round out the top scorer's with 15 points each. Goalie Luis Morales has recorded a 0.91 goals against average in the net and an 18-2-1 record with ten shutouts in 1971:00 minutes. His GAA mark currently ranks No. 16 nationally among all NCAA II goalies.

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