By Joshua Cubillo
Staff Writer
The 2016 men’s soccer season ended in disappointment, as the Toros failed to make the California Collegiate Athletic Association postseason.
With only two games remaining in the regular season, the Toros needed to win both to have an opportunity to make it into the postseason play. The Toros were going to have a mountain to climb with their last two games being away.
Coming into the game, on Oct. 27 against Sonoma State, the Toros lost 2-1 against Cal Poly Pomona at Toro Stadium on Oct 23. CSUDH followed that performance with a devastating 3-0 loss to Sonoma State, making the task of qualifying for the postseason more daunting.
CSUDH needed a victory against Humboldt State in their last game of the season and a series of results to go their way in order to qualify for the post-season.
The Toros did their part by defeating Humbolt State 1-0 on Oct. 29. The lone score came by junior defender Emmanuel Corona. With the victory, the Toros needed a couple of results to go their way, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
CSUDH ended its season tied for sixth place in the CCAA standings with Cal State Los Angeles, but did not qualify for the post-season because CSULA owned the tie breaker, after defeating the Toros 2-0 earlier in the season.
With the departure of 10 seniors from last year’s team, the Toros hope of repeating as CCAA champions was no easy task. With a large junior class, the Toros were a team in transition.
The season started poorly with a 2-0 loss to Point Loma University and a 2-2 draw against Azusa Pacific University.
CSUDH was able to turn their luck around with a 2-1 win against Northwest Nazarene University, which led to a five-game winning streak. Their last eight games proved to be the breaking point though, as the Toros were only able to win three.
Next season, the Toros will have a large senior class and hope that this year’s team learned enough to mount a title challenge.
