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Winston Sorhaitz recorded first career brace as an Aztec
Source: goaztecs.com
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
September 4, 2017 (San Diego) - Behind thrilling performances by Jeroen Meefout and Winston Sorhaitz, the San Diego State men’s soccer team broke down a UC Santa Barbara defense that had entered today with only one goal allowed over the course of its first three games to earn a 3-1 victory over the Gauchos in the team’s home opener on Monday night.
“I think Winston (Sorhaitz) was phenomenal tonight. He was selfless to make the extra pass,” said head coach Lev Kirshner. “Our movements and our desire to beat a very storied program that has a national title was evident in our effort tonight.”
Sorhaitz started his big night off quickly, with Ilai Shvika and Jeroen Meefout connecting on a pair of passes to find Sorhaitz open on the far side and cash in on an 11th minute goal.
SDSU controlled the pace of the remainder of the half, however, UCSB was able to break a three-match scoreless drought in the 38th minute and level the score at 1-1. The Aztecs went into halftime with an 8-2 advantage in shots and a 4-0 edge in corner kicks.
In the 57th minute, Spencer Madden delivered a beautiful ball inside the box from the right side of the field, giving Sorhaitz a picture-perfect header opportunity and helping SDSU regain a 2-1 advantage on the Utah native’s second goal of the match.
“I feel like today we were just clicking offensively. We were able to stay patient in the offensive third. Two goals for me, honestly, I just feel like I was in the right place at the right time. My teammates set me up really well,” said Sorhaitz, who supplied his first career brace as an Aztec in the victory.
20 minutes later in the right corner of the attacking third, Meefout put on a show for the 772 fans in attendance, using jaw-dropping footwork to navigate around a trio of Gaucho defenders to find an open Thom Van den Berg, who capitalized on the scoring opportunity and put an exclamation point on SDSU’s 3-1 victory.
The Aztecs have now won eight consecutive home openers dating back to 2010 and improve to 2-1 on the young season.
“We’ve been working on our attacking a lot in training,” said Meefout. “Everything just clicked tonight, I’m happy for Winston (Sorhaitz) and my fellow countryman Tom (Van den Berg) that they were able to score some goals tonight. Great performance tonight and I’m very proud of everyone.”
SDSU will now host the Cortyard Marriott San Diego Central Tournament, beginning with a match against San Francisco on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. The Aztecs follow that match with another 7:00 p.m. contest against Utah Valley on Sunday.
MAN OF THE MATCH: With his first career brace, redshirt senior Winston Sorhaitz was named Man of the Match in SDSU’s 3-1 win over UCSB. Sorhaitz led all players in the contest with five shots, and showed an accurate leg with four of those being on target.
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