On October 19^th, in the middle of Homecoming week as well as the first day of the faculty strike, the men’s soccer team took on Pitt-Johnstown on senior day. The team celebrated seniors, Elliot Taylor, Eleazar Luciano, Cory Kuzilla and Nick Cichon before the game. The Vulcans won the last home game of the season 6-1. This comes at a dire time for the men’s team. After losing 3-1 at home last week against 1^st place Mercyhurst and then 3-1 against 5^th place Gannon, the Vulcan’s must continue to win to make playoffs.

In the first half, freshman Cooper Amos, scored his 6^th collegiate goal in the 9^th minute of play. The half consisted of mostly Vulcan possession in which the team out shot the visitors 12 to 3.

At the start of the 2^nd half, senior Nick Cichon, scored within 6 minutes with a laser shot. Not three minutes later he scored again to boost the Vulcan’s score to 3-0 and his own stat of 4 goals on the season. The Panthers of Johnstown answered in less than a minute putting their only goal on the board. Later on, sophomore Anthony Papageorgiou, scored in the 68^th minute. The Vulcans continued to press on with sophomore, Brad Powell, shooting the ball resulting in the ball deflecting off of the opposing team and into their own net. The final goal of the match was by sophomore Eric Campbell, his 4^th on the season.

The Vulcans played exceptionally and could hit a stride at a pivotal moment in the season.

“We need to win the next two [games] and that’s just for a guarantee into playoffs,” senior captain Cory Kuzilla stated. “If we don’t then we need stuff to happen for the rest of the season like other teams [losing].”  The California team has shown potential throughout the season of how good they can be, for instance, when rival Millersville fell 5-1 despite being ranked #24 overall in the nation at the time. The possibility is high that the Vulcans could have a rematch with the Marauders in playoffs. Kuzilla stated “Stick to the game plan that the coach gives us, hard work at practice and then go in positively with the momentum that we have from the season” as a formula for success to beat the Millersville, or any impending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) rival.

Kuzilla’s career at California has many highlights but there are two particular that he mentioned tonight. “A highlight of the season would be tonight, senior night, winning 6-1. It was a great night. Everyone played well I thought and we moved the ball well. A highlight of my college career would be against Mercyhurst. I think I played my best, personally and I enjoyed playing that game.”

The Vulcans move to 8-5-1 overall and are 7^th, 4-4-1, in the PSAC. The 6-1 victory over Pitt-Johnstown drops the visitors down to 4-10 overall and are at the bottom of the PSAC. In order to make playoffs the Vulcans must at least win one of the next two games. Their next match is against Shippensburg, who is 5-10 overall, on Saturday the 22^nd. Then a week later the men’s team ends the regular season is at Lock Haven, who is 5-9-1 overall, on the 29^th.

Senior Statistics:

Elliot Taylor

Eleazar Luciano

Cory Kuzilla

Nick Cichon