Short-handed Highlanders Battle Past Aztecs, 3-2

Wednesday, September 6

UC Riverside

San Diego State

Short-handed Highlanders Battle Past Aztecs, 3-2

9/6/2006 2:51:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Riverside—UC Riverside twice came back from a goal down and survived a second-half red card to beat visiting San Diego State 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon at the UCR Soccer Stadium. The Highlanders win their second straight to improve to 2-2-0 while dropping the Aztecs to 2-2-0 and their second consecutive defeat.

With the score tied at 2-2, UCR went a man down in the 60th minute when sophomore forward Joel Crompton picked up his second yellow card. Still, the Highlanders kept pushing forward and were rewarded just six minutes later. Junior midfielder Andrew Villalobos drove a low shot into the penalty area but it was saved by SDSU goalkeeper Tally Hall. The ball rebounded out to freshman midfielder Xavier Perez, who tapped it to freshman forward Nathan Paterson inside the six-yard box. Paterson knocked in his second goal of the season before Hall could recover.

San Diego State had twice taken the lead in the first half, only to see UCR fight back each time. Andrew DiCicco gave the Aztecs the lead just 2:07 into the match, latching on to a long pass from Dennis Sanchez and lobbing the ball over UCR goalie Charles Alamo for the 1-0 lead.
Crompton struck back for the Highlanders at 9:17 with his first goal of the year by capitalizing on another rebound. Villalobos provided a low cross to Paterson, whose left-footed one-time shot was saved by Hall but fell right to Crompton. All Crompton was left with the easiest of tap-ins to draw the sides level.

With both teams playing a direct style, opportunities were plenty and it was SDSU who took advantage. In the 26th minute, Matt Lemire delivered a cross from the right side to Freddy McDonald, who directed a header past Alamo and into the upper right corner of the goal to give the lead back to the Aztecs.

The Highlanders needed all of 98 seconds to strike back again, equalizing through the nifty play of three freshmen. Forward Zack Walker found Paterson on the edge of the penalty area and, with his back to goal, Paterson slid a through-ball to an on-running Michael Galland. Despite a tough angle near the right touchline, Galland fired past Hall and into the roof of the net for his first career goal.

Both teams seemed evenly matched through the game until Crompton's red card with 30 minutes left. The Aztecs outshot UCR 10-3 in the second half but it was UCR who was able to find the net. SDSU had one clear opportunity to equalize in the dying minutes. With three minutes left and UCR holding all its players back to defend, Kraig Chiles hit a rocket that Alamo managed to parry. The ball fell to McDonald but his follow-up smashed off the post and UCR cleared.

Alamo stopped four shots for the Highlanders to ensure UCR of a perfect 2-0 home stand. Hall also made four saves. The Aztecs held a 17-11 shot advantage while UCR committed 28 fouls to SDSU's 14.