CSUDH Men's Soccer Weekly Release
September 3, 2002

THIS WEEK IN TOROS SOCCER
Sept. 4 #1 CSUDH vs. Seattle University Toro Field, 4 PM

LOOKING AHEAD: The Toros its season-opening five game homestand with a match this week against a tough Seattle University team. The squad will then get a rest before they take on Vanguard University on Sept. 9 here at Toro Field.

TOROS EXACT REVENGE AGAINST ALLIANT: Eduardo Serrano tallied two goals to propel the Cal State Dominguez Hills men's soccer team, ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls, to a 3-2 win over visiting Alliant University at Toro Field. The win was a bit of sweet revenge for Cal State Dominguez Hills. Last year on September 28, Alliant brought an end to the Toros 23 game winning streak and 32 game unbeaten streak with a 1-0 upset in San Diego.

Junior midfielder Eddie Gonzales-Pinto (N. Torrance HS) put the home team on the board first with a beautiful shot in the 27th minute. Gonzales-Pinto took the ball on the left side and hit a 30-yard blast to the upper far corner giving CSUDH a 1-0 lead. The score remained the same until Serrano, a junior forward transfer from Humboldt State, knocked in his first goal of the game at 48:22 on a penalty kick. On that play, senior All-America forward Gabriel Valencia (Salesian HS) was pulled down inside the penalty box setting up the penalty shot. Serrano converted for a 2-0 lead.

Three minutes later at 51:34, Serrano took a feed from Valencia and from 18-yards out beat Alliant goalie John Tozar to the near post for a 3-0 lead. But Alliant responded quickly for its first strike of the game. At 53:34 Benjamin Leitner took a cross from Dario Hausler and hit a blast from 20-yards away to the far post over CSUDH keeper Javier Barragan making it 3-1. Alliant University cut the lead to 3-2 at 62:24 when Hausler collected a loose ball in front of the mouth of the goal and sent his shot to the far post. But the Toros defense would stave off the Mountain Lions the rest of the way to go on for the 3-2 victory.

In the game, CSUDH outshot Alliant 14-11. Javier Barragan (LB Jordan HS) earned the win making 3 saves in the game. John Tozar suffered the loss registering 5 saves on the day while allowing all three goals.

TOROS ROUT CAL BAPTIST 8-0: Cal State Dominguez Hills scored six goals in the second half alone while going on for the 8-0 romp over visiting Cal Baptist University last Saturday at Toro Field. Junior midfielder Victor Guerrero (Century HS) assisted on three of the Toros goals initiating the offensive explosion.

CSUDH started the scoring in the 17th minute when junior midfielder Chris Wimmer (Fountain Valley HS) crossed a pass to sophomore defender Nathan Reeves (Lakewood HS) who punched his shot past Cal Baptist goalie Robert Turner for a 1-0 lead. That is where the score stayed until the 44th minute when freshman midfielder James Leary (Bishop Montgomery HS) took a cross from Eddie Gonzales-Pinto and blasted his shot to the upper near post for a 2-0 lead. Halftime interrupted the scoring for 15 minutes before CSUDH scored six more goals in the second half.

Wimmer made it 3-0 at 52:12 when he was fed a pass from Gabriel Valencia and beat the goalkeeper on the right side for his first goal of the year. It was then Valencia giving CSUDH its fourth goal of the game when in the 56th minute he stole a pass from 25 yards out, beat the goalie and placed the ball in the back of the net. Senior forward Scott White (Sonora HS) made it 5-0 at 66:55 when he intercepted a ball near midfield, galloped along the right side and beat backup CBU keeper Justin Nitti.

Seven minutes later, Eduardo Serrano notched his third goal of the young season off of a freekick in the 73rd minute to give CSUDH a 6-0 cushion. Sophomore forward Juventino Morfin (Lincoln HS) rounded out the scoring with his first two goals in a Cal State Dominguez Hills uniform. His first goal came at 79:23 when he took a rebound off the goalkeeper and fired in his shot from close range making it 7-0. He then completed the scoring in the 86th minute taking a lead pass from Guerrero and beat the goalie on a breakaway.

For the Toros, it was their largest margin of victory since they beat Cal State LA 10-2 last October 27, 2001. CSUDH goalie Javier Barragan and Scott Wilson (South Torrance HS) combined for the shutout making three saves in the game. Robert Turner took the loss for the Lancer's allowing four goals. Backup Justin Nitti allowed four goals during the final 24 minutes of the contest.

SWEET SERRANO: Junior transfer Eduardo "Lalo" Serrano is feeling right at home with the Toros after transferring to the Carson campus from Humboldt State. Serrano led the PacWest in scoring last year while earning First Team All-West Region honors. This year, Serrano already has 3 goals including the game-winner against a very strong Alliant University in the season opener. He has a deadly left foot and finishes strong. At 6'1" he also gives his midfielders a very large target up front.

TORO TID BITS: The Toros have already outscored their opponents 35-5 in the early going including an 11-2 mark in goals scored and a 13-1 mark in assists. CSUDH has 26 shots on frame compared to only 8 for the opposition.

GUERRERO GOING STRONG: Midfielder Victor Guerrero is making his presence felt in a big way already this year. The 6'0" junior playmaker has registered 4 assists already including 3 against Cal Baptist. He now has 20 career assists which place him second all-time in the Toros record book. Next up is Sean Lockhart (2000-01) who holds the record with 28.

THE COACH: Head coach Joe Flanagan is in his ninth season at the helm of the Toros program. Last year Flanagan led CSUDH to its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA II National Championship game only to succumb to University of Tampa 2-1 in the final minutes of the game. Flanagan, the 2001 NCAA II Far West Region Coach of the Year, became the Toros all-time winningest coach last year and now is 105-51-8 (.665). Flanagan won his 100th career game when the Toros shutout UC Davis 1-0 in the CCAA Championship game last year. 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.

MORE FLANAGAN: Heading into this season, Flanagan in the 15th winningest active coach at the NCAA Division II level with a 105-51-8 record and a .665 winning percentage. The only coach that ranks higher than Flanagan is legendary Seattle Pacific mentor Cliff McCrath who leads all active coaches at any level with 530 wins.

CLASS BREAKDOWN: 14 underclassmen dot the 2002 roster including 5 freshman and 9 sophomores. The upper class is evenly split with 5 juniors and 5 seniors.

TOROS SPORTS HOTLINE: For results, schedules and other information on Toros soccer, call the Toros Sports Hotline 24 hours a day at (310) 243-3174.

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