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Warriors open new stadium with victories
CSUS-soccer-pic1
CSUS’s Jiovanni Santana fights for the ball against Dominican University on Sunday afternoon. The midfielder scored a goal in a 3-2 win. - photo by CHHUN SUN / The Journal
It didn’t take long for the Cal State Stanislaus men’s soccer players to let people know who owned Warrior Stadium, as they gave the home crowd a lot to cheer about early on.
And a couple hours later, the women’s team added to the dominance.
Sunday was a historic day for the Warriors, who opened up their new stadium — situated on the corner of Christoffersen Parkway and Geer Road — with two victories over the Dominican University Penguins in exhibition action.
The CSU Stanislaus men won 3-2 in the afternoon with two early scores in the first 18 minutes from Jiovanni Santana and Andrew Ruiz, while the women maintained control throughout the evening match under the bright lights and won 2-0.
Both teams didn’t show any nerves, probably because the players got rid of them the day before in alumni games. So, that might explain how the CSU Stanislaus men (1-0-0) were able to come out and score two quick goals. But things changed drastically in the second half, when Dominican managed to receive two penalty kicks, and capitalized.
If it wasn’t for a sweet free kick from CSU Stanislaus’ Luis Guzman that set up a header for Oscar Ramirez after Dominican’s first penalty kick, the mood after the game could have been very different for the Warriors — a program that is going through a rebuilding process with first-year coach Dana Taylor, formerly of Oregon State.
“I thought they did today some things better than the alumni game,” he said. “In the alumni game, we kind of fell asleep and we weren’t ready to come out and play with the energy we needed to.”
“Now, it’s about moving forward.”
The women’s team is also trying to progress. The Warriors are coming off a record-breaking season in which they were nationally ranked and set a number of school records, in addition to losing seven seniors. On Sunday, they proved to be dominant again.
Marissa Dunaway had a score and an assist in the win, while teammate Bernadette Bettencourt set the tone in the 32nd minute with her own score. Bettencourt’s score was made possible by a Dunaway assist.
The Warriors improved to 1-0-1 in exhibition play. Their tie came against a tough Sacramento State team a week earlier.
And now, both CSU Stanislaus squads hope to improve from Sunday.
The men host Division I’s Cal State Bakersfield today at 4 p.m. before playing their first regular season game against Fresno Pacific at Warrior Stadium at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The women open the regular season against Hawaii Hilo at Warrior Stadium at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.