Box Score BERKELEY, Calif. – Despite a late goal, SIUE men's soccer finished off a two-game west coast trip with a 2-1 loss at No. 15 Cal Sunday afternoon at Edwards Stadium.
Trailing 2-0 in the 77th minute Cougar Seniors Matt Polster and Christian Volesky hooked up for the score for the second consecutive game. Volesky assisted on a Polster goal in Friday's loss at No. 24 Stanford. Sunday, it was Polster finding Volesky with a pass into the box. Volesky finished far post past Cal goalkeeper Justin Taillole to cut the Golden Bears' lead to a goal.
The goal was the 20th of Volesky's SIUE career. He becomes the 23rd player in school history to score at least 20 goals in his career.
SIUE (0-6-2) had two other chances in the game's final 10 minutes but shots by Paul Schepeter and Volesky each missed high.
Cal (5-1-0) scored both of its goals in a span of 4:47 in the first half. Stefano Bonomo capitalized on a Cougar mistake to put the Golden Bears on the board. Bonomo intercepted a pass from the SIUE defense and then beat SIUE goalkeeper Kent Kobernus for the first goal, which came in the 17th minute.
Connor Hallisey netted the game-winner in the 21st minute. After a give-and-go with Jose Carrera-Garcia, Hallisey finished to the far post to make it 2-0.
Kobernus made four saves in the game for the Cougars. SIUE collected eight shots in each period. They outshot Cal 16-13 for the game.
The Cougars are now off for more than a week. SIUE will travel to Evansville to begin Missouri Valley Conference play Mon., Sept. 29.
