No. 24 CSU Pueblo earns first ever NCAA Tournament win 1-0 against Seattle Pacific
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 18, 2021) - No. 24 Colorado State University Pueblo men's soccer team won its first ever NCAA Tournament game Thursday, defeating No. 22 Seattle Pacific 1-0 in the first round behind a goal scored in the 79th minute from Matthew Coleman (So., Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK).
With the win, the ThunderWolves sit at 15-5-2 and the 15 wins ties a program record for most wins in a season.
"Phenomenal collective effort tonight," said Pack Head Coach Oliver Twelvetrees. "We fought for every ball and were excellent defensively. We didn't allow them any clear opportunities from our tactical discipline."
Pack goalkeeper Garret Wild (Jr., Brownsville, Tex.) earned his tenth clean sheet of the season as he played out of his mind and made seven saves including three in a span of two minutes early in the second half to preserve the shutout.
Josua Hall (Sr., Baiersbronn, Germany) led all players with three shots in the game. All of the shots from Hall came in the first period.
In the first half, CSU Pueblo totaled seven shots and had two land on goal against one shot on goal for Seattle Pacific.
A defensive battle throughout the first half, both teams exchanged possession and neither was able to create many scoring chances.
Starting the second half, SPU came out fast and put an assault attack against the Pack defense and caused Wild to make three fully stretched out saves to preserve the lead with about thirty minutes left of regulation.
The Pack recorded their first corner kick midway through the period and the attempt sailed wide of the net.
With twenty minutes remaining, the ThunderWolves found possession in Falcons territory and drew a foul and on the free kick, senior defender Nick Burgess (Melbourne, Fla.) hit a laser inside the box and was gathered by the SPU goalkeeper.
The first yellow card of the match was issued against Seattle Pacific with 16:38 remaining in the second half.
After a corner kick from Seattle Pacific with 13 minutes of regulation resulted in a goal kick, CSU Pueblo quickly got the ball into Falcons territory and a centered pass was gathered by Coleman who struck a shot low and to the right inside the net for the go-ahead goal.
"For Matt to score the winner was special," Twelvetrees added. "He is an amazing young man who has made 50 straight starts and this was his first goal."
Ahead 1-0 over the last ten minutes, CSU Pueblo's defense buckled down and fended off a flurry of shots that was of no real threat, coming away with the victory.
Carlos Espinoza (Sr., Simi Valley, Calif.) recorded 78 minutes of play time and had a homecoming of sorts as he was the only player from both teams to come from the Southern California region.
"We will recover and be ready for Saturday." said Twelvetrees.
CSU Pueblo (15-5-2) advance to the second round and will face off against top seed and host, No. 6 Cal State University Los Angeles on Saturday at 7 p.m. (MT) at Cal State LA's University Stadium.
