ARCATA, Calif. – The HSU men's soccer team provided some drama Sunday afternoon at College Creek Field in its matchup with Cal State Los Angeles, but ultimately found themselves the winners of a hard-fought 2-1 battle.

It was Isaiah Dairo's fourth goal of the season at the 59:58 mark that broke the 1-1 tie and gave the Jacks a margin they would hold onto with the help of some stellar goaltending by Chris Cherms, who turned aside several Golden Eagles' threats with punch-outs late.

"Our guys played with amazing spirit today," said Head Coach Fred Jungemann. We have been crushed by injuries recently and started the day with only four fit players on the bench. Then we lost two more guys in the first half and one in the second. We were thinking we may even need to sub in our extra goalkeeper on the field. None of that seemed to faze our guys, though, and they just kept fighting till the end."  

It was Gus Baxter that put the home team on the board at 52:45 assisted by Max Steinmetz, finishing a free kick with a header in the box. The Golden Eagles evened the score when Steven Eberle struck an unassisted goal at 58:08, before the Jacks got the game-winner minutes later.

"It was an amazing and emotional game that could easily have gone either way," said Jungemann. "I am incredibly happy for our guys, and especially for the seniors we honored today, this was a marvelous result, particularly with all the adversity they had to overcome to get there."

"This win keeps us alive with a hope to move on to the conference tournament and Wednesday's game at San Francisco will be another big hurdle as well. The guys will enjoy this one for today though, they played their hearts out and did their seniors proud."

HSU had 16 shots, with eight on goal, led by Dairo's four shots with one on goal and Baxter's two shots, both on goal. Cherms ended the day with 10 saves.

The result runs HSU's record to 8-7 overall, 5-6 in conference, and the Jacks' regular season finale will be Wednesday at San Francisco State with a 12:30 p.m. start.