Gators defend their territory in a tie against one of the top teams in the nation.

In the finale of a grueling stretch which included five games in nine days the SF State men’s soccer team kept No. 4 Cal State L.A. from scoring and earned a scoreless tie after overtime Sunday at Cox Stadium.

“That’s a good team and they haven’t been shut out very many times this year if at all. I thought our defense battled, Israel (Cisneros) played a phenomenal match, and everybody worked hard,” said assistant coach Kelley Coffey.

The tie gives the Gators a record of 7-6-2 overall and 4-5-1 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. SF State is now 5-1-1 in its last seven matches.

The 110 minutes of goalless soccer started out slow for the Gators, but there defense held strong and didn’t allow a goal despite a 23-10 shot advantage.

“They’re the number four team in the country and we shut them out and they’re one of the best scoring teams in the league, so I think that’s definitely a plus for us,” said defender Jake Beverlin.

The Gators back line of freshman Roberto Escobar and Josh Kuluris, along with upperclassman Wesley Whitt and Beverlin played their roles to perfection keeping the Golden Eagles from getting uncontested shots and used their physicality to throw off the Cal State L.A. offense.

With midfielder Charles Conway out on a one game suspension following his fifth yellow card on Friday freshman Jeffrey Wiant stepped up and was solid patrolling the middle as well, according to Coffey.

“We lost a lot of the aerial presence (without Conway), but I thought Jeff Wiant stepped up in the middle and battled his butt off. I think our whole back line stepped up today,” said Coffey.

In addition Cisneros did his part to ensure the shut out by thwarting the Golden Eagle offense with seven saves and several crucial clearances in the box. It was his fourth shut out of the season.

One mistake could come back to bite the Gators next weekend happened minutes before the game was over after Cisneros collected a ball a Golden Eagle player got in Cisneros face and Cisneros appeared to give him a slight head butt sending the opposing player to the ground and earning Cisneros a red card, and subsequent ejection.

As a result SF State will be without their starting keeper for next Friday’s road game against Cal State Stanislaus.

“Tommy’s (Comer) has got to step up. It’s sink or swim. We go with the next guy in line and he’s next,” said Coffey.

The offense had a couple of scoring chances, most notably a laser by striker Dylan Glass in the 66th minute and a blast by midfielder Sergio Villalva just outside the box. Both shots, however, went right to the Golden Eagle keeper for two easy saves.

The Gators go back on the road to play Cal State Stanislaus next Friday at 12:30.