HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay captured their first California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) victory of the 2018 season with a, 3-2 win over Stanislaus State in the CCAA home opener on Friday afternoon, September 21.
 
Senior Jonathan Cuevas (Reno, Nev.) found a huge way to score hos first game of the season as he netted in the game winning goal for host Pioneers with jus 53 seconds left in the game. Cuevas rung in a shot to the top right of the box on a free kick from about 30 yards out.
 
With the win the Pioneers improve to 2-3-1 on the season with a 1-1-1 mark in conference play. The win also gives CSUEB as 2-1 record in game played in Pioneer Stadium. The Warriors and Pioneers have exchanged wins back and forth for the past six seasons.
 
The contest was filled with high end action and scoring on both sides as both teams put in three goals within five minutes of game action. Despite the high scoring affair the two squads carried a scoreless tie into the intermission.
 
The Warriors would break into the scoring frenzy first as Javier Ceballos put a shot just past East Bay to take a 1-0 lead. His goal was assisted by Daniel Galvan in the 47th minutes of action.
 
Minutes later the Cal State East Bay senior Jonathan Ayala (Concord, Calif.) his team-leading second goal of the season as he rebounded his own shot off the crossbar to the bottom left corner of the goal to knot the game at 1-1.
 
A minute later the Warriors took a 2-1 advantage as Desmond Madrigal headed a pass from Adrian Yepez into the back center of the goal.
 
But the final two goals of the game would belong to Cal State East Bay as freshman Michael Francisco (Hayward, Calif.) evened the game at 2-2 scored the first goal of his CSUEB career on an excellent pass from Jonathan Ayala. For Ayala it was his first assist as a Pioneer.
 
The shot count from both teams were nearly identical as East Bay narrowly edged out Stan State, 13-12 with seven shots on goal from CSUEB and six shots on goal from SSU.
 
Jonathan Ayala paced the Pioneers with five shots with three shots on goal while Jonathan Cuevas added four shots including two shots on goal. Michael Francisco complied two shot attempts with both coming on goal and Luis Salazar (San Lorenzo, Calif.) tallied one shot.
 
Senior Omar Coronel (Santa Rosa, Calif.) logged all 90 minutes in goal recording two saves while allowing two goals.
 
The Pioneers will look to carry this momentum until their next match as they wrap up the weekend with a visit from Chico State on Sunday morning, September 23 at 11:30 a.m.
 
The game be held at Pioneer Stadium as The Bay Area Online Sports Network was b nationally broadcasting the game.