ALAMEDA, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay men's soccer team erased a halftime deficit with two second-half goals to earn a 3-2 victory over Fresno Pacific on Sunday at the Oakland Roots Practice Facility. The win improved the Pioneers to 2-6-2 overall and 2-1-1 in conference play.
Fresno Pacific opened the scoring in the 24th minute when Nixon Hansen finished off a corner kick to give the Sunbirds a 1-0 advantage. East Bay answered just over two minutes later. Ezekiel Anaya played a quick through ball to Mauricio Velazquez, who found the bottom left corner from outside the box in the 26th minute to even the match at 1-1.
The Sunbirds regained the lead in the 33rd minute, with Hansen scoring his second goal of the match to put Fresno Pacific ahead 2-1.
East Bay had an opportunity to keep the deficit at one late in the opening half when goalkeeper Adan Corona came up with a penalty kick save in the 43rd minute. The stop helped send the Pioneers into halftime trailing 2-1.
The momentum shifted in the second half. Fresno Pacific was reduced to 10 players following a red card in the 63rd minute, and East Bay capitalized three minutes later. Alejandro Zarate converted a free kick from the left side of the box, finding the far post to level the match at 2-2 in the 66th minute.
With the match still tied late, the Pioneers found the game-winner in the 85th minute. Misael Meza delivered a through ball from midfield to Kiichi Murakami, who found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper and finished from the center of the box to give East Bay its first lead of the afternoon.
The Pioneers controlled much of the attacking action, finishing with a 25-11 advantage in shots and putting 12 attempts on goal. East Bay also held a 7-6 edge in corner kicks. Guilherme Azevedo led the Pioneers with four shots, all four on goal, while Zarate also recorded four attempts and scored the second-half equalizer.
Velazquez, Zarate and Murakami each found the back of the net for East Bay, while Anaya and Meza recorded assists. Corona played all 90 minutes in goal and helped keep the Pioneers within striking distance with four goalkeeper saves, highlighted by his first-half penalty kick stop.
After trailing twice in the opening half, East Bay responded with two unanswered goals after halftime to complete the comeback and secure its second conference victory of the season.
