ARCATA – A goal from 25-yards out in the fourth minute of the first overtime period was the difference as the Gators of San Francisco State defeated the Humboldt State men's soccer team 2-1 on Friday night in Redwood Bowl.

The win improves SFSU's record to 4-4-1 overall, 2-4-1 in California Collegiate Athletic Association action.  The Lumberjacks fall to 1-6-2, 1-5-1 in conference play.

The Jacks came out in the first half and had the better run of play.  They outshot the Gators 6-to-4 including 2-to-1 in shots on-goal.

Forward Lyle Menk took two shots in the half.  The first was a header in the 31st minute that was setup by a cross from Josh Suggs.   The header went just over the crossbar.

HSU broke through at the 38:28 mark.  With a free kick from 35 yards out, Scott Mariani healed the ball three yards behind him.  Menk stepped up and hammered a shot to the right of the wall, low to the right corner of the goal to give the Jacks a 1-0 lead.

“I was happy with the first half,” head coach Christian Johnson said.  “We were possessing the ball, keeping it on the ground and connecting on our passes.  I think we could have done even better and built on that.”

In the second half the Jacks managed just two shots, both by Suggs and both within the first 15 minutes.  The best opportunity HSU had came at the 48:11 mark.   Brian Holmes streaked down the left sideline with the ball and played it right in front of the goal.  Suggs was there and redirected it on-goal, but Gators' keeper Michael McNeill made the save to keep the match to a 1-0 score.

At the 68:35 mark SFSU's Malcolm Linton had a throw-in that Charles Conway headed to the near post to tie the match 1-1.  It was one of the 10 shots that San Francisco State had in the second 45 minutes.

“In the second half we asked our forwards to get more involved by checking in deeper instead of running away for the long balls,” Johnson said.   “We wanted to drop balls back and have overlapping midfielders but it didn't happen.  We also wanted to use (Brian) Holmes more because in the first half he had several opportunities where he got behind the defense.  But game-in and game-out it is the same thing.  The number of shots we have in the second half compared to the number we have in the first half is horrible.  We took two shots in the second half.  That is inexcusable.”

In overtime it took just 3:06 for SFSU to end the game.  Saman Assadi took a shot from 25 yards out that Jacks' keeper Kyle Verle couldn't stop as it sailed over his outstretched arms.  

“We are rushing ourselves and not playing with composure,” Johnson said.  “Tonight diving in killed us.  Being out of position killed us. Not being aware of what is going on around us killed us.  That's what happened on the second goal.

“Every game, in the second half, our opponents come out and want it more than we do.  Our guys haven't shown that they are hungry for a win at all. Until we have 14 guys show that they are gong to go for the jugular and play for 90 minutes we are going to see this again and again.”

HSU will try to turn things around on Sunday when they host Cal State Monterey Bay at 2 p.m. in Redwood Bowl.