LOS ANGELES — No. 3 San Diego men's soccer (13-2-2, 7-1-0 WCC) finished off a dominating 2024 West Coast Conference campaign on Saturday evening with an authoritative victory over LMU (6-8-3, 3-4-1 WCC) to secure the title of West Coast Conference Champions for the third consecutive year, defeating the Lions 1-0 behind a lone goal from junior forward
Samy Kanaan.
The Toreros struck for the only goal of the night in the 44th minute, when Kanaan finished off a great cross into the box from
Owen Walz to put the Toreros up by one goal with seconds left on the clock in the first half.
USD closed out Saturday's victory with consistent, controlling defense, to keep the Lions off the board through a scrappy finish to the half, shutting out LMU to close out the victory in its final regular season game of the 2024 season.
With the win, USD men's soccer has now secured its third consecutive West Coast Conference title, and third of the
Brian Quinn era. They will await an NCAA Regional bid in the selection show on Monday morning.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Saturday evening's contest started off slow as neither team could build an opportunity to break through on goal through the game's first 40 minutes.
- Minutes after Oliver Rhoades registered the Toreros first shot on goal in the 40th minute, Kanaan got the scoring started with an impressive flying finish off a cross from Owen Walz which was set up by Josh Martinez to give San Diego the lead just a minute before half.
- Kanaan made a nice run inside the box in the 55th minute before dumping it off to Steven Ramirez who had a good look at goal but could not convert, maintaining the one goal advantage for San Diego in the second half.
- The Torero back line held firm for the remainder of the second half and kept the Lions from getting a single shot on goal through the entire second period to secure the win and the WCC Title.
TORERO TIDBITS
- Kanaan's 44th minute goal was a team-high ninth of the season.
- Owen Walz's assist was his fifth of the season, tying Luca Fava for the most on the season, while Josh Martinez earned his third assist of the year, tying him for second among his teammates with Ethan Warne.
- As a team, the Toreros earned their eighth shutout of the year.
- San Diego is now the first team to three-peat as men's soccer champions since 2000.
CATCHING UP WITH THE TOREROS
UP NEXT
The NCAA College selection show will be on Monday November 18 at 10 a.m., where the Toreros will figure out who they will face in the 2024 NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament.
