Box Score
LOS ANGELES -- Cal State L.A.'s women's soccer team saw its historic season come to a sudden end Sunday in an NCAA Division II West Region second-round game.
The Golden Eagles, the California Collegiate Athletic Association champions, fell into a 2-0 hole and were unable to recover in a disappointing 2-1 loss to Cal State Dominguez Hills at Jesse Owens Track. Cal State L.A. (17-3-2) saw its 12-match unbeaten streak snapped as well.
The game literally came down to the final seconds. Cal State L.A.'s Ann Marie Tangorra ripped a potential game-tying shot with five seconds left that bouinced off the right post and harmelssly away..
The Golden Eagles, the No. 1 seed in the West Region and ranked a program-best sixth in the country, set new program records for most wins (17) and most goals scored (42), but couldn't muster the same explosiveness they displayed last week in the CCAA Championship game. In that match, Cal State L.A. defeated Cal State Dominguez Hills, 4-0.
One week later, the tables were turned.
Cal State Dominguez Hills (15-8-1), the No. 4 seed, advances to the West Region championship match against UC San Diego next Friday. The Toros handed the Golden Eagles two of their three losses on the season and wound up splitting the four contests between the two programs.
Melissa Livergood and Jessica Murphy had the goals for Cal State Dominguez Hills, while
Jasmin Stuemper had the lone goal for Cal State L.A.
The Golden Eagles held a slim 15-14 advantage in shots and had five corner kicks to one for the Toros. It was a physical contest with six yellow cards and a red card on Murphy that came with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the contest.
The Toros came out determined to avenge last week's loss in the conference title game and Cal State Dominguez Hills opened the scoring in the 16th minute when a long throw-in by Brooke Thompson was knocked just inside the far post by Livergood. It was her first goal of the season.
Tangorra had the best chance in the first half for Cal State L.A. when she sent a hard shot just wide of the right post in the 27th minute.
The Toros made it 2-0 in the 49th minute when Murphy scored her 13th goal of the season. She got to a rebound of a shot by Danielle Shoemaker and hit a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced down for a goal.
Cal State L.A. got back into the match in the 62nd minute when Stuemper scored her fifth goal of the season. A free kick by
Kastidi Robles drew a crowd in the box, but Stuemper controlled it and booted it in for the score.
The Golden Eagles had an extra player for the final 10 minutes after Murphy was sent off with a red card, but they were unable to get the equalizer.
It was a matter of inches as Tangorra's bid hit the post and stayed out.
#Liz3 Franco#, the CCAA Offensive Player of the Year, was hounded all day by a tenacious Cal State Dominguez Hills defense and was held without a goal despite getting off four shots. Tangorra also had four shots.
The Golden Eagles came into the match with four consecutive shutouts and hadn't allowed two goals in a game since Oct. 9.