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CSUB women work OT to win opener

BY STEPHEN LYNCH, Speial to The Californian | Friday, Aug 22 2008 11:01 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Aug 25 2008 12:31 PM

The CSUB women's soccer team got goals from a pair of freshmen, including the game winner in sudden death double overtime by Veronica Ramos, to beat visiting Idaho 2-1 Friday night in the season opener for both teams.

Ramos, playing her first collegiate game, scored unassisted in the 101st minute to lift the Runners to victory after the Vandals tied the match with less than one minute remaining in regulation.

"I made a run inside hoping that (Alexandra) Ngo would play it out wide and it happened to go through the two players and I just saw it and ran as quick as I could on to it," Ramos said. "I saw the keeper coming out ... I decided to cut it and just shoot the ball to the wide corner because no one was there, and it went in."

CSUB took a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute when freshman forward Sarina Coutin came off the bench to score in only her fourth minute of action.

"The whole team really pressured them the first 25 minutes before I came in and they really tired out the defense so when I went in there I had fresh legs," Coutin said. "I wanted to make sure I punished them."

Coutin's goal appeared like it would stand up as the Runners continued to control the action throughout the rest of the match. But a costly mistake allowed Idaho's Jennifer Eugenio to even the score with 51 seconds left.

"It was a mental breakdown," said CSUB head coach Nicole Van Dyke. "We actually had the player (Eugenio) covered. Our last defender comes across and she wasn't going to get a great shot off but our keeper (Marina Constantinou) comes barreling out. That's that thing about having experience. The keeper should have stayed...she would have to have pulled a brilliant shot if our keeper had been in the goal."

Constantinou, also a freshman, finished with three saves.

The Runners dominated play for most of the match, resulting in 16 shots compared to seven for the Vandals.

Idaho had a difficult time mounting a consistent attack against a tough CSUB defense. The Vandals didn't take a single corner kick the entire match. CSUB took 12.

"I think in spurts we played good soccer," Van Dyke said. "We worked extremely hard. I can't knock our girls for the effort. It was our first real game of the year."

Ramos and Coutin were both obviously pleased with the result of their college debuts.

"It's a feeling you can't even describe because it's so overwhelming, Ramos said. "Even though I scored it doesn't matter because all the girls helped."

"It was definitely a team effort and we came out with a win so it's really exciting," Coutin said.