An early goal by Rommee Jaridly 49 seconds in set the tone for the rest of the match as San Diego State men’s soccer topped the Cal Poly Mustangs 3-0 on Friday night at the SDSU Sports Deck.
The Aztecs (2-0-1) first goal came on a long ball played to forward Alexander Levengood on the right wing. He controlled it to start a nice passage of play with forward Rommee Jaridly as he cut in on his left, then Jaridly placed his shot in the bottom right of the goal for his first of the year.
“We challenged them this week to bring more intensity as a group themselves and I thought they really showed up and showed it 49 seconds into the game,” said head coach Ryan Hopkins. “Can’t start a game much better than that.”
The match would prove to be physical and chippy, as in the 16th minute the Mustangs Leonardo Martinez would be shown a straight red card for his out-of-play kick on Jaridly, forcing Cal Poly (0-2-0) to play with 10 men for the remainder. The match would have a total of 29 fouls combined between the two teams at full-time.
A deflected clearance from Cal Poly defenders led to a ball bouncing into the path of forward Terence Okoeguale for a one-on-one chance in the box, which he shot between the keeper’s legs to put the Aztecs up 2-0 in the 26th minute. Okoeguale’s first goal of the season came after being subbed on only three minutes prior to his goal.
Goalkeeper Logan Erb had himself a night as he made three saves that helped his team seal the victory. The most notable ones came at the 56-minute mark when he had to make a double save, as after the initial stop Cal Poly pounced on the rebound and Erb had to make another goal-saving play.
“Got a good hand to the first one,” Erb said. “That was pure reaction, but (I) saw the second guy come up to line up to head it straight down. I was like ‘man, I got to get a left hand out there,’ and was blessed to cover it.”
Coach Hopkins had high praise for his goalkeeper and his impact on the team’s confidence.
“That’s what makes Erb really good, his ability to make that special save,” Hopkins said. “It’s like our little superpower back there, it gives us another man and we’re really comfortable with our back. If they do make a mistake, we have Erb there to pick up the pieces.”
The Aztecs put the nail in the coffin in the 80th minute on a corner taken by midfielder Jules Anderson, which forward Austin Brummett headed over the keeper into the right-side of the goal for his first score of the season to complete the 3-0 scoreline.
Jaridly had praise for teammate Levengood, who gave him the assist to his goal, and his teammates for the creativity and output on the offensive side of the ball. The Aztec offense created 13 shots and five corners, while the defense held the Mustangs to six shots and three corners in the game.
“We haven’t gotten a chance to play as much but I think as the games go on we are starting to get more chemistry and starting to play well together,” Jaridly said. “We are getting balls in behind (and) just creating good chances, we scored three goals tonight so I am really happy with the way we played.”
Up next, SDSU will go up against George Washington University (0-0-2) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, at the Sports Deck for the third of their eight-match homestand.