San Francisco Men’s Soccer Dispatches Gonzaga 1-0 in Overtime in WCC Opener
Vegard Karlsen Scores as Dons Push Unbeaten Streak to Three

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September 30, 2011

(San Francisco) – It took four extra minutes in overtime to do it, but the San Francisco men’s soccer team (3-4-1, 1-0 WCC) kicked off their WCC season in style with a 1-0, golden goal win over Gonzaga (2-15-1, 0-1 WCC) Friday night.

The Dons dominated Gonzaga throughout the game, setting up one scoring opportunity after another from the first whistle straight through to the last one.

Sophomore midfielder Vegard Karlsen scored his second goal of the season just 3:55 into overtime to put the game to sleep after the Dons outshot the Bulldogs 23-to-8, including a 4-to-0 margin in the brief overtime period.  It was the second tally for Karlsen in his last two matches.

USF had Gonzaga backed up throughout the game and peppered the Gonzaga goal with shots, but weren’t able to find the net in regulation time. 

The Bulldogs had no answers for USF sophomore midfielder Mauricio Diaz De Leon, who dominated the game from the right side.  Diaz De Leon took six shots on the night, and was instrumental in setting up scoring chances for Karlsen and freshman striker Miguel Aguilar.

Aguilar improved his team-leading points total to eight on the season with an assist on Karlsen’s game-winner.  He shared the assist with junior midfielder Vinny Caloiaro.

The goal came as a result of brilliant passing by some of the team’s stars.  Diaz De Leon delivered a corner kick to the back post where Caloiaro was waiting.  Caloiaro sent the ball back across the mouth of the goal to the opposite post where Aguilar played it with his feet right to a wide-open Karlsen for the goal.

Karlsen took four shots in the game, missing the frame on two, finding the net on one and narrowly missing on a rocket-shot early in the second half.

The Dons possessed the ball in Gonzaga’s half four times in the overtime, the first three resulting in narrow misses and the final one delivering the sudden death winner.

Early in the second half, senior defender Kevin Orozco preserved the tie, and ultimately the win when he dropped all the way to the goal mouth to clear a ball that was rolling into the USF net after goal-keeper Brendan Roslund was beaten. 

San Francisco returns to action when it hosts No. 25 Portland Sunday, October 2. Match time against the Pilots is set for 1:00 PM at Negoesco Stadium in a match featuring live streaming video on USFDons.com.