Air Force Academy
San Diego St.
Air Force beats San Diego State, 5-1
11/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 1, 2002
Junior Dan Walsh scored two goals and added an assist and sophomore Marcus Sagastume had two assists Friday as the Air Force men's soccer team defeated San Diego State, 5-1, at Cadet Soccer Stadium in the Falcons' home finale of the 2002 season.
The victory secured a berth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships Tournament for the Falcons (8-8-1, 2-3 MPSF) to be held Nov. 14-17 in Albuquerque, N.M. Six of the conference's seven teams advance to the tournament, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Thomas Clark got the Falcons rolling early as he placed a bicycle kick between the right post and an SDSU defender into the net just 2:41 into the game. The kick followed a header pass from Walsh. Fellow senior Paul Gagliardi put Air Force up 2-0 in the 20th minute after taking a crossing pass from Clark and beating SDSU goalie Brian Barnes.
Walsh scored the first of his two goals in the 28th minute by heading in a rebound after Barnes stopped a Sagastume shot from point-black range. The Falcons went to the locker room at halftime with a 3-0 advantage.
The second half was more of the same as freshman Carlos Maqueda scored in the 49th minute with an excellent individual effort to sneak past three Aztec defenders and beat Barnes with a top-shelf shot. Walsh put in the Falcons' final tally in the 59th minute after a pretty pass from Sagastume and one-timed a left-footed shot past Barnes.
SDSU (4-11-2, 0-3-1) got on the board in the 65th minute when Pat Strait scored his first goal of the season off a crossing pass from Eric Wohl and beat Falcon goalie Mike Taylor. Taylor and Barnes each finished the game with nine saves as Air Force posted a 14-10 advantage in shots on goal.
Air Force completes its 2002 regular season schedule on Nov. 10 with a game at the University of Denver. Kick-off is scheduled for 12 p.m.
