Box Score TURLOCK — High octane offense in the first half Saturday was followed by a gutsy defensive effort in the second, as the Stanislaus State men's soccer team ran out to a big lead before being edged, 5-4, by Holy Names in a non-conference contest at Warrior Stadium.
 
It was Stanislaus State's first home game since Nov. 9, 2019, and the energy was palpable. The Warriors scored their most goals in a game since Oct. 14, 2018, when they also scored four in a 4-0 win over Sonoma State, also at home.
 
"It definitely was evident that our guys wanted to win the game, and we know we're very early in where we're going to be this year," said Stanislaus State head coach Morgan Cathey. "So it was really fun and really exciting for our guys. You could see in the first half we had a little more energy than what we've had up to this point. I thought it was really exciting, you could see it meant a lot to our guys."
 
The Warriors (0-1-1) scored four goals in a span of 10 minutes during the first half, all off the feet of four different players. Jack Montejano got the scoring started with a goal in the 22nd minute, breaking an early 0-0 stalemate and putting the Warriors up, 1-0. Julian Madrigal added to Stanislaus State's lead 2 1/2 minutes later with an unassisted goal. He beat the Hawks' defensive line and pushed the ball past a diving 'keeper to make it 2-0.
 
The game then became a back-and-forth affair. Holy Names got a goal back only 45 seconds later with a header goal from Amine Abdelouahid. He leaped high in the air and headed in a loose, bouncing ball on the left side of the net, making it 2-1. But Adrian Yepez struck right back in 36 seconds. He beat the Holy Names' goalkeeper with a high shot after Josh Santillan had sent him a perfect pass up the field from the left side. That put the Warriors back up, 3-1.
 
Holy Names answered again four minutes later on a goal from Guilherme Fao Martins. He took a ball lobbed off a free kick from Robert Viera and buried it in the corner after settling it in the box, cutting Stanislaus State's lead to 3-2. But the Warriors weren't done. Francisco Gonzalez scored the sixth goal of the half between the two teams in the 32nd minute taking the ball right before shooting it low to get past the HNU 'keeper's outstretched hands and roll it inside the opposite post, making it 4-2.
 
"A couple of those goals were exceptional," said Cathey. "Also to see things we've been working on – two goals from midfield players running in from behind – I thought Julian Madrigal was phenomenal in his movement to really unbalance the opponent and draw them out so we could expose spaces. I thought Josh Santillan, the pass to Yepez, for him to walk the ball into the goal, those things don't happen a ton in college soccer let alone any soccer game. For us to see what we can do when everything comes together was really great for our guys."
 
The turning point in the game, however, was when a red card was issued to a Stanislaus State player in the 40th minute. Still up two goals at 4-2, the Warriors would now have to battle for the next 50 minutes playing a man down.
 
Holy Names capitalized on its man advantage in the second half, scoring three goals to erase the deficit and take the lead. It took nearly 20 minutes for the Hawks' first goal to come, but Pablo Ramirez was able to cash in during the 63rd minute to make it 4-3. The Stanislaus State defense held on to its slim lead for another 14 minutes, but HNU finally tied it and took the lead with two goals in a 30-second span. The first came from Joel Rosales, who was assisted by both Ramirez and Viera to tie the game at 4-4. Then in the 78th minute, the Hawks went ahead for good on Ramirez's second goal of the half.
"We set them up to still be aggressive, and we had two balls off the post. We probably created more chances than they did, even down a man," said Cathey. "And so for us, it can only be happy. We made one or two really bad mistakes and we made one or two bad decisions in the final third, but I thought we fought to the end and that's something we know hasn't always been a characteristic of this team when they've faced adversity."
 
Stanislaus State's next opportunity will be at 3 p.m. Thursday on the road at Dominican in another non-conference clash with a PacWest program.