BOX SCORE
SEASIDE, Calif. — Expectations for the Cal State Monterey Bay's men's soccer team are high coming off of its historic 2013 season. Even after Thursday's 2–0 opening day setback to visiting Notre Dame de Namur, those expectations remain the same.

For the opening 20 minutes, CSUMB looked content on trying to capitalize with a strong counter attack. But it was the Argonauts who used the counter attack to catch the Otter defense twice in a 6–minutes span late in the first half.

Esteban Berumen struck first in the 30th minute, taking a long over–the–top assist from junior midfielder Omar Herrera. Berumen wasn't content with only one goal, however, and the freshman forward struck gold again in the 36th minute, this time from point blank range off of an assist by Glenn Gomez.

"Good teams take advantage of the weakness. Because we put our heads down two times, they capitalized on us," said CSUMB Head Coach Rob Cummings (@RobCummings3). "They caught us sleeping."

Opportunities were available for the Otters in the first half. Junior midfielder Manny Cazares (Panorama City, CA) created space to set up a shot in the 33rd minute, but was denied by Argonauts goalkeeper Jay Tsuruoka. An excellent feed by sophomore midfielder Lalo Avalos (Salinas/Hartnell College) lead to two quality shots by junior forward Duce Bell (Fresno City College), both of which were stopped by excellent saves from Tsuruoka.

The second half showed a much more aggressive pace for both squads with five yellow cards issued, including two against the Otters, and 18 total fouls called in the period. Opportunities for goals came on two free kicks; the best one by senior forward Anthony Velazquez (Gilroy/Gavilan College) going just wide of the mark.

Despite the result, Cummings remains optimistic about his team's play going forward.

"Well today we weren't the better team, however, if we were to do this again, I would feel very confident playing them 10 times."

The Otters look to put this game behind them and have their eyes set towards Saturday when they host Northwest Nazarene University. Game time is at 11 a.m. at the CSUMB Sports Complex.