A California road trip provided no sunshine for Dixie State University’s men’s soccer team, being held winless.
DSU fell behind early in its 2-1 loss Thursday against University of California, San Diego. It gave up the first goal in the 20th minute of play, but was able to respond only a few minutes later, tying it 1-1. The goal was scored by DSU sophomore midfielder Michael Ropelato.
The Red Storm competed with UC San Diego, the ninth ranked team in the country, keeping the score even through the half. UC San Diego freshman midfielder Zachary Lagotta scored the goal that would end in a DSU defeat.
“Obviously it wasn’t the result that we wanted,” said goalkeeper Spencer Anderson, a senior finance major from Glendale, Arizona. “We came out real fresh against UC San Diego and had a real good performance there. We had a lot to take away from it.”
The Red Storm offense had 11 shots at goal and the Pacific West Defender of the Week Spencer Anderson made seven saves during the contest.
“We answered a lot of questions with this trip,” said head coach Danny Ortiz. “That is what these games are for. We have to use these games as a tool to find out what we need to do going forward.”
After suffering its first loss of the season, DSU looked to rebound Saturday against California State University, San Bernardino.
However, DSU gave up five goals, three scored by San Bernardino forward Corey Christ, in its second defeat of the season. The resulting 5-1 loss leaves DSU without a victory through three games.
The lone goal-scorer for the Red Storm was sophomore midfielder Sean Jenne.
“We learned a lot about ourselves,” Ortiz said. “Overall I’m pretty pleased with what we’ve done. We know that going ahead there are things we need to fix, especially in the midfield, but we know that they are in our ability to fix them.”
DSU next plays Northwest Nazarene University Tuesday at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.
“Our defense is one of our strongest attributes,” Anderson said. “I have a lot of confidence in our back line. We need to stay together for the full 90 minutes and we will see good things happen.”
