Highlanders Continue to Stifle Matadors, 1-1

Wednesday, September 20

University of California, Riverside

Cal State Northridge

Highlanders Continue to Stifle Matadors, 1-1

9/20/2006 2:55:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Northridge, CA—UC Riverside flummoxed defending Big West Conference champions Cal State Northridge by battling the Matadors to a 1-1 double overtime tie in the teams' Big West Conference opener Wednesday afternoon at Matador Soccer Field. The Highlanders snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 3-4-1, 0-0-1 while CSUN moves to 2-3-2, 0-0-1.

The last four meetings between UCR and CSUN had all been decided by one goal or fewer and this game was no exception. Both teams had their chances in the early going but it was the Highlanders who got on the board first. The ball settled to the middle of the box following a throw-in by UC Riverside, and after it bounced around, fell to the foot of freshman forward Jeremy Clay (Fontana, CA), who beat CSUN goalkeeper Kevin Guppy to the left post from 12 yards out for his first career goal at 21:39.

The Matadors went on the offensive for the remainder of the first half but it was UCR junior keeper Charles Alamo (San Luis Obispo, CA) who kept Northridge off the scoreboard with five saves in the first 45 minutes. Along with two stops on Taylor Canel, Alamo's biggest save in the first half came on Sunghyun Kim. Taking a feed from Canel at the top of the box, Kim tried to go far post to beat Alamo but the Highlanders' netminder just got his hand on the ball to deflect it away from the goal to keep UCR in the lead.

Clay almost put the Highlanders up 2-0 in the 56th minute but Dylan Riley cleared a header from Clay before the ball could cross the line.

The Matadors would get the equalizer in the 77th minute. With players battling for the ball in the box, it popped out to Borak, who fired one to the top left corner past Alamo to even the game at 76:51.

Northridge had four more chances in the first overtime but none better than an attempt by Kim in the 97th minute. Alamo again kept the Matador freshman off the scoreboard with a nice save. It would be the best opportunity for both teams in the extra sessions as the squads settled for the draw.

The match was very physical and featured 39 fouls and 10 yellow cards. Northridge outshot UC Riverside 24-13. Guppy made five saves in net. For the Highlanders, Alamo stopped eight shots in goal.

The tie snaps the Matadors' 12-game home conference winning streak and is the fifth double overtime game and fourth tie between UCR and CSUN. UCR also halted a three-game losing streak against Northridge.