HAYWARD, CALIF. – The Cal State East Bay men's soccer team dropped a tough 2-1 match against the visiting Notre Dame De Namur Argonauts on Tuesday night, September 5 in Pioneer Stadium.
 
With the loss the Pioneers move to 1-1-1 on the season. It was the first regular season meeting of the two squads since 2013. CSUEB and NDNU held a exhibition in Belmont, Calif., before the start of the season.
 
Because of the preseason scrimmage both teams seemed to know the other pretty well as neither team was shy on aggression and intensity on the field. They battled hard throughout the entire match and the Argonauts earned a well deserved victory.
 
The team's stat lines were almost identical in that both teams shot 13 shots apiece. Notre Dame De Namur attempted 10 shots in the first half to just three from the Pioneers. Although East Bay lost the match it was not for lack of effort as the Pioneers amped their offensive pressure with 10 shots of their own after the intermission compared to three from the Argonauts.
 
NDNU did hold the shot of goal advantage 5-3 over CSUEB while Cal State East Bay recorded one more save than Norte Dame De Namur.
 
Evan Sanchez led the Pioneers with four shot attempts, Brett Fuchs and Ben Reiter added three shots apiece while Jonathan Cuevas chipped in two and Grant LaFleur attempted one shot of his own.
 
After the Argonauts took an early 1-0 lead in the opening minutes of action from a penalty shot, East Bay junior Brett Fuchs put is his team-leading second goal of the season in the 6th minute of play. Fuchs rebounded a shot that senior TJ Butler put off the chest of the goalie perfectly into the right side of the net. For Butler it was his first assist as a Pioneer.
 
Notre Dame De Namur would score the tie-breaking goal in the 31st minute as Esteban Berumen blasted a shot from mid field just over the outstretched hands of Pioneer goalie Carlos Moreno.
 
Moreno nonetheless played a great game in the net for CSUEB. He played all 90 minutes and picked up three crucial saves for the Pioneers.
 
The Pioneers will return to action on Friday with a game against Southern Nazarene scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff in Pioneer Stadium.