BOX SCORE

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — Playing in front of the second-largest crowd ever to watch at Cal State Monterey Bay men's soccer match, the Otters gave their best performance of the season to upset Sonoma State 1-0 Saturday at the Seawolf Soccer Field.

With 731 spectators watching, junior forward Servando Perez scored the only goal of the match in the 74th minute and freshman goalkeeper Evan Drake made that marker stand up with his second shutout in his fourth collegiate start. Saturday's crowd was eclipsed only by the 1,377 who saw the Otters battle Cal State Stanislaus last Oct. 21 in Turlock.

“This felt like a postseason atmosphere,” said CSUMB Head Coach Rob Cummings. “It was a well-played NCAA soccer match by both sides, and I felt our boys deserved the win.”

The first half played reasonably close, with Sonoma holding a slight 5-3 edge in shots. But the Otter issue of putting shots on frame continued with all three CSUMB shots missing the target. That changed early in the second half, however, when Julian Salas called Seawolf keeper Beau Diaz to action 10 minutes after the restart.

With their marksmanship now restored, the Otters finally cashed in the 74th minute. A long throw by Dylan Niven made its way through several Sonoma defenders to Andrew Breault, who flicked the ball on to Perez alone, 13 yards out on the right side of the penalty area. His sure finish left Diaz no chance.

The match was far from decided at that point, however, and Sonoma pushed forward looking for the equalizer. The Seawolves out-shot the Otters 4-0 over the final 16 minutes, but could not solve Drake. Drake's biggest contribution came barely one minute after Perez scored when he made a fine stop to deny a header from Kelly Davila.

“This was definitely a team win, but Evan came up big when we needed him,” said Cummings. “Overall, we minimized mistakes and did not have any extended lulls, which can be devastating in a close match like this one.”

CSUMB (2-9-0, 2-8-0 CCAA) will look to keep its momentum rolling when it plays its final two road matches of the season next weekend at San Francisco State and Cal State East Bay., The Otters return home to host Cal State San Bernardino on Friday, Oct. 26.

Sonoma fell to 6-5-2 and 5-4-2 with Saturday's loss..