Box Score LA JOLLA – The California Collegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer road never has an easy match.
Humboldt State put up a strong effort, but 22nd-ranked UC San Diego netted a goal right before half and would never trail from there in a 2-0 victory on Friday night.
The host Tritons (5-1-1/3-1-1 CCAA South) are the first team to hold the Lumberjacks (3-3-1/1-3-1 CCAA North) scoreless this season.
"I give full credit to San Diego for a well played match tonight. We didn't do much to help ourselves though," explained HSU head coach Fred Jungemann.
UCSD outshot HSU by a 19-12 finally tally. The Jacks, though, held a 10-6 advantage in the second 90 minutes after seeing the Tritons kick to a 13-2 first half margin.
Braxton Griffin led HSU with three shots and two on goal. Zach Hammond added two shots, both on goal.
Connor Wilkinson put one of his two shots on net with Ryan Connor taking two attempts. Sam Wahl, Chuck Pitts and Nate Roupp had one shot apiece.
Playing one half each, both Javier Torres and Ryan Ades saved one shot in net for HSU.
The match was scoreless until 17 seconds left in the first half.
UCSD's Cory Wolfrom converted a close shot following a throw in to a header at 44:43.
The nationally-ranked Tritons' leading-scorer Alessandro Canale put in his third goal of the year off a crossing pass from the left to low into the goal with 72:18 elapsed into the match for a 2-0 lead.
HSU was unable to cut into the margin over the final 17:42.
"We will certainly need to look at a few things and try to regroup before another tough match on Sunday," concluded Jungemann.
The Jacks weekend southern California trip will continue when they face Cal Poly Pomona on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m.
