The CSU East Bay men’s soccer team kicked off a three-game home stand Friday where they were shut out against CSU Stanislaus Warriors 2-0 in their first game since being eliminated from playoff contention.

The game Friday was a physical one, where in total 45 fouls were called as well as two yellow cards to players on each team. The physicality as well as all the stoppages played a huge role in the outcome.

“There wasn’t a lot of fluidity during the game today,” said Head Coach Andy Cumbo. “There were 45 fouls called and on average we usually have half that. That means there are a lot of stoppages. Our style is about developing a rhythm. All the free kicks and stoppages really hampered that.”

The Pioneers found themselves in a scoreless game until the 65th minute when Manny Villegas found the back of the net, scoring an emphatic goal as he collected the rebound off the post.

The second goal came off the head of Kyle Cadigan, as he found the upper corner of the net off of a corner kick. Danny Ochoa assisted on both of the goals.

The Pioneers have yet to beat the Warriors since joining the CCAA and have gone 0-6-1 in the seven games against the Warriors.

“It is a tough match up for us,” said Cumbo, who has not seen his team score a goal in the last four meetings with the Warriors. “Their style is a lot different than ours. They are a physical team. The ball is up in the air a lot and there is a lot of restarts. We can play that way but we would rather create a rhythm and all the fouls really stop our flow.”

The Warriors had won back-to-back games coming into Friday, while the Pioneers were coming in with much less momentum, having lost five out of their last six and losing their chance at a playoff berth.

“Unfortunately, they have been playing very well and I think they came in with stronger momentum than we did after the big loss,” said Trey James. “I think coming into this last game that set us back from having a post season kind of brought us down a bit, but I felt like we came out strong and ready.”

Cumbo believes while the playoff letdown might have had a factor in the loss, his team is still heavily motivated each and every game and wants to finish this season strong despite the team not going into the postseason.

“They want to win at everything they do and despite there being no postseason the objective is to finish the season as strong as possible,” said Cumbo. “Get momentum going and finish this season with some momentum is what we want to do. These guys are very competitive. The guys are fighters and competitors.”

The Pioneers beat Humboldt State Sunday, 2-1, in the second game of their home stand with the help of two first half goals from junior Javier Martin. Their next game will come on Friday against the CCAA North Division leader, Sonoma State.

With only a few games left in the season and despite not being where the team would like in the standings, the players believe that this season has raised the bar incrementally. The team would like to gain some momentum going into the offseason through the last two remaining games.

“We have already done better than previous teams in the last decade. So even though we are not making it to the postseason, we are improving over previous seasons,” James said. “But we want to finish off as strong as we can. We want to make a statement in these last games and just get ready for next season. We are a good team and not one to get pushed around.”