Riverside—The UC Riverside Men's Soccer Team opened the 2016 campaign with a 2-1 victory over visiting California Baptist University Friday evening. That marked the fifth straight season that the Highlanders have won their season opener.
Ricardo Ruiz put UCR (1-0-0) on the board with just 8:09 gone in the match when Romario Lomeli and Yosimar Hernandez executed a perfect give and go down the left side. Lomeli's cross found its way all the way across the box, where Ruiz waited to pound the ball home to the near post.
It remained a 1-0 match until 16:30 gone in the second when Ruiz found Dylan Smith with a cross in the middle of the Lancers' defensive 18. Smith scored to the right side from 14 yards out to give the Highlanders a two-goal advantage.
CBU cut the lead in half with 10:18 to go in the match thanks to a Hugo Gutierrez score. They had two other decent scoring opportunities in the second half, but the Highlanders defense held the Lancers in check the rest of the way.
UC Riverside heads to Las Vegas this weekend for a pair of matches at UNLV—on Friday, September 2 against Santa Clara at 9 pm PT, and Sunday, September 4 vs. the host Rebels at 7 pm.
