Gators triumph

The Gators faced the CS Stanislaus Warriors Saturday, a team that has not won a game all season. Was it a cake walk for SF State? No. A debacle? Almost. A win? Definitely.

SF State overcame a last-minute comeback to beat the Warriors 3-2.

SF State drew first blood when less than 10 minutes into the first half, freshman midfielder Leif Lundaas made a spectacular sideline pass to midfielder Lasse Lonnebotn. Lonnebotn headed it to forward Carlos Aguirre, who then put away the shot.

With outstanding goal keeping by sophomore Aaron Linder, and despite intense pressure by the Gator offense, the score remained 1 -0 well into the second half.

The Gators could smell victory. However, a controversial call late in the second half lit a fire under the Warriors. After an arguable call, the Warriors mounted a comeback against the Gators, who seemed to be in disarray.

"It's a team we should have beat by a lot, but they almost caught up," Lundaas said.

With less than 15 minutes to play in the game, the Warriors received a double blow. Forward Hector Perez struck a Gator player in front of the Warriors' goal, earning his second cautionary yellow card, which was automatically followed by a red card. Perez was ejected from the game and SF State was awarded a penalty kick.

The coaching staff of the Warriors, who had been questioning the officiating by referee Chris Strickland all afternoon, was outraged. Not only did they have to play a man short for the rest of the game, but they had to watch Gator forward Arturo Colmenero get his first goal of the season.

After that, the teams seemed to switch places. Where as the Gators had commanded the ball all afternoon, the Warriors took control.

Less than a minute after the penalty, Warriors' defender Claude Aoun scored unassisted. The quick strike of the Warriors dazed and confused the Gators, who panicked, according to senior Gator defender Ron Shackelford.

"We dominated 75 percent of the game. The last 20 minutes we should have kept more composure," said Shackelford. "I think it was a mental breakdown. It should never have been that helter-skelter."

In all the confusion, the Warriors were dealt a third blow and the Gators a huge break. Senior Colmenero received a direct free kick, which he chipped over the defenders' heads for his second goal.

The Warriors, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, capitalized on the Gators mental breakdown. With 6:50 left to play and still a man short, the Warriors' Fabio Giordano scored their second goal before time stepped in for the Gators and ended the Stanislaus comeback.

According to Warriors head coach Al Tsacle, things would have been different if Perez had not been ejected. He said he will protest the game.

"I think there was a mistake," he said. "We played very well and I think we should have won the game."

SF State head coach Joe Hunter said there were bad calls for both teams and that according to Northern California Athletic Conference rules Tsacle has no grounds to protest.

"You can't protest referees calls," he said. "Regardless of how bad (the decisions) are."

Overall, Hunter was happy with the win, but disappointed with his team's finish.

"We played a good pace," said Hunter. "The key to this game is keeping it simple, and we want to make it difficult. We shouldn't have won by the score on the board."

SF State is now 2-2 in the league, with a 3-7 overall record. Next week they will travel to Chico.

Hunter knows what the Gators need to do to win.

"We need to sustain what we're doing," he said. "We have to make sure we can finish our matches by making sure we're focused and concentrating. That's been our biggest concern of the season."

[ Golden Gater Online October 5, 1995 ]

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