Matadors Rally to Upend San Jose State 4-3

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

Erasing two different leads, including a two-goal deficit at the half, CSUN Women's Soccer (7-3) earned a 4-3 come-from-behind victory at San Jose State (2-4-2) on Sunday afternoon at Spartan Soccer Field. Cynthia Sanchez scored the tying and the game-winning goal en route to her second brace of the season while adding an assist in the win. Ariana Tran and Kendall Moskal each tallied their second goals of the season to help lead the comeback charge.

"The team showed a lot of character to comeback from two goals and also from two different deficits," said head coach Keith West. "Most teams would wilt after falling behind a second time after tying a match, but we didn't break today. We were able to score that first goal and we kept coming after that."

Just two days after falling 3-1 at Santa Clara, the Matadors found themselves in a similar position in the first half of their Sunday contest at San Jose State. Much like Friday night where the Matadors surrendered a pair of goals in the first 21:32 of the contest to fall into an early 2-0 hole, CSUN spotted San Jose State a two-goal advantage with a pair of scores in the first 23:39 of the match.

Dorthe Hoppius registered goals in the 13^th and 24^th minutes to give her team a 2-0 lead. Despite just totaling three shots in the first half, San Jose State was able to take advantage of its shots attempts to build a lead over CSUN.

The Matadors created scoring opportunities in the first half, tallying four of their six shots on goal, but CSUN could not crack the scoring column in the first 45:00 minutes. Despite outshooting the Spartans 6-3 in the half, the Matadors entered halftime trailing 2-0 for the second consecutive match.

After the intermission, the Matadors continued to plug away and create opportunities at the net. After Camille Watson shot wide left and Sanchez had her shot blocked, CSUN finally broke though in the 54^th minute.

Off a corner kick opportunity, both teams fought for possession inside the Spartan box. Sanchez gained possession and passed to Tran who delivered a shot into the net to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Trailing by just a goal, CSUN continue to control the possession on San Jose State's side of the field. In the 60^th minute, Spartans committed a costly foul inside its own box leading to a Matador penalty kick opportunity. Moskal connected on the kick, squaring the game at 2-2.

With their lead gone, the Spartans would quickly answer back. Hoppius recorded her third goal of the day in the 65^th minute to give her team the lead again at 3-2.

Having already rallied from two goals earlier, the Matadors went on the attack once again, looking to erase another deficit.

In the 75^th minute, a CSUN give and go led to another Matador score. Working a two-player game, Destinney Duron touch passed to Sanchez who scored from the right wing, tying the game again at 3-3. Duron earned her team-leading fourth assist of the season on the play.

CSUN's leading scorer, Sanchez would strike again moments later in the 80^th minute. After having her shot blocked from inside the box, Sanchez corralled the rebound and kicked in the go-ahead score.

"Big time players come through in big time situations and Sanchez came up big for us when it counted," added West about the sophomore's second two-goal performance of the season.

With their first lead of the match, the Matadors buckled down defensively, holding the Spartans to one shot the rest of the way to secure the win.

With two goals and an assist, Sanchez recorded five points on the day to push her season tally to 18. She has registered a point in seven of 10 matches this season.

In the victory, the Matadors earned their first come-from-behind win of the season and their first since defeating Cal Poly 2-1 in overtime last October. The four goals in the second half is the first for CSUN in a half since October 2012 against Pacific. Also, CSUN earned its first win when surrendering two goals or more since winning 3-2 over Cal Poly in October 2009.

CSUN concludes its road trip on Friday, Sept. 25 at San Diego. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Matadors Rally to Upend San Jose State 4-3

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Team Stats

Cynthia Sanchez

Ariana Tran

Kendall Moskal

Destinney Duron

Players Mentioned

Destinney Duron

Kendall Moskal

Cynthia Sanchez

Ariana Tran

Camille Watson