Cameron Mertens (, ) broke away from his defender and took advantage of a nice pass by Sean Rawson (Hood River, Ore.) to give the Seattle University men’s soccer team a 1-0 victory over Cal State Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon at Jesse Owens Track.
In the 72nd minute, Rawson saw Mertens streaking down the field just ahead of a Cal State Los Angeles defender and sent the pass down the field. Mertens corralled the ball and beat CSULA goalie Tobias Hummel for his first goal of the season. It was Rawson’s first assist in the 2007 campaign.
Shots were hard to come by, as each team launched only eight total shots during the hot afternoon. Hummel made one save in each half, while goalie Jordan Jennings () picked up two saves in each half in earning his second victory in as many starts.
did have a significant advantage in corner kicks, earning nine corner kick opportunities to Cal State Los Angeles’ two corner kick chances. Both teams were aggressive offensively, as was called three times for offsides, while Cal State Los Angeles (2-1-1) was called for offsides twice during the match.
After 13 days on the road to begin the season, (4-1) returns to and will host Notre Dame de Namur in the home opener Sunday, Sept. 9, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Championship Field. Live stats will be available for that match on the new athletics website, www.GoSeattleU.com.