Men's Soccer Celebrates 2017 Seniors
The Keelhaulers came up short on the scoreboard, but Thursday night was all about honoring five of the best seniors any coach or university would be lucky to have in Thomas Karabeika (SR/West Linn, Oregon), Bartlett Tammaro (SR/Spokane, WA), Patrick Mish (SR/Bakersfield, CA), Jacob Lassila (SR/Elk Grove, CA) and Jonah Grier (SR/Edmonds, WA).
In a very spirited affair at Bodnar Field the Keelhaulers (1-9, 1-9) generated more shots on goal than their conference foes from Providence Christian (5-10-2, 2-7-1), but couldn't get quite the same quality of shots as they lost their season finale 5-1.
Fittingly it was Karabeika who had some great early chances for the Keelhaulers riffling two shots to the left side of the goal. One beat the Seabeggers goalkeeper but clanged off the left post.
Providence Christian weathered the early storm Cal Maritime delivered, and started the scoring when Eric Cabrerra cleaned up a rebound to make it 1-0 Seabeggers with just under 25 minutes remaining in the first half.
A controversial goal by Cobi Black made it 2-0 Providence Christian as the Keelhaulers tried to argue he was offsides, but video showed it to be a legal goal. Black would continue to be the center of controversy as he drew a yellow card for arguing with the officials over non-called fouls. He even layed back down on the ground at one point after getting up in an attempt to get the refs attention, but instire drew the jeers of the Keelhauler crowd.
The yellow cards got started when Owen Okada (FR/Wahiawa, HI) was issued one after some physical play, and the referee stopped the game at two different points to have a word with players about extra ciricular activity on the pitch.
On a night when the seniors were honored, it was Blake Rerucha (FR/Temecula, Ca) who got the Keelhaulers goal with a blistering shot going right to left from just outside the penalty box for his first collegiate goal.
Goalkeeper David Henderson (JR/Walnut Creek, Ca) leads the nation in saves per game, and with four more in this game he set a career high with 108 saves on the season. The single-season, personal best save came on a leaping punch away in dramatic fashion as he as often done in his career.
All five goals scored by the Keelhaulers this season came from freshman in Rerucha, Henry Kraus (FR/Valley Center, CA), Justin Davis (FR/Honolulu, Hi), J.R. Green (FR/Portmore, JA), and Owen Okada. The men's soccer team will look to this new crop of talent to create a buzz around the program next season.