Saturday, October 20
UC Riverside
1
vs
2
UC Santa Barbara (#10)
Highlanders Hang Tough Against #10 UC Santa Barbara, But Fall, 2-1
10/20/2007 1:09:00 PM | Men's Soccer
Riverside—UC Riverside played one of their best games of the year at the UCR Soccer Stadium Saturday afternoon, but their valiant effort fell short as the defending national champions #10 UC Santa Barbara took the match 2-1. Sophomore Zach Walker scored the goal for UCR (4-4-5, 1-2-3 Big West).
Both teams played to a scoreless first half with UCSB (7-3-3, 4-1-1 Big West) out-shooting the Highlanders 10-2. Highlander senior keeper Charles Alamo played a flawless first 45 minutes, making two big time saves after the Gaucho attack got through the UCR defense and unloaded two shots towards the right corner, Alamo had to leave his feet both times to keep the Highlander's upset bid alive.
Both teams came out in the second half, sensing opportunities to improve each other's position in the conference standings and continue their marches towards post-season berths.
The Gauchos struck first, just over one minute into the second half, UCSB's Tino Nunez and Ciaran O'Brien worked a give-and-go with Nunez eventually feeding a crashing Eric Avila who slipped it past Alamo into the right corner for the 1-0 advantage.
UCR answered with their own attack, Alamo hammered a kick downfield, with the ball landing just inside the UCSB box. Freshman Cito Soriano corralled the ball and headed over two Gaucho defenders to Walker who's shot to the bottom left corner beat UCSB keeper Bryant Rueckner to even it at 1-1.
Midway through the 62nd minute, Nunez dribbled through the Highlander defense to draw the defense to him, he then slipped the ball to his left to a wide-open O'Brien who beat Alamo to give UCSB the 2-1 advantage.
The Highlanders could not capitalize on a couple free-kicks inside Gaucho territory as time wound down and UCSB held on for the win.
Alamo finished with five saves and Rueckner made three saves.
UCR will continue their playoff push as they travel to UC Irvine on Wednesday and up to first-place Cal Poly on next Saturday.
Both teams played to a scoreless first half with UCSB (7-3-3, 4-1-1 Big West) out-shooting the Highlanders 10-2. Highlander senior keeper Charles Alamo played a flawless first 45 minutes, making two big time saves after the Gaucho attack got through the UCR defense and unloaded two shots towards the right corner, Alamo had to leave his feet both times to keep the Highlander's upset bid alive.
Both teams came out in the second half, sensing opportunities to improve each other's position in the conference standings and continue their marches towards post-season berths.
The Gauchos struck first, just over one minute into the second half, UCSB's Tino Nunez and Ciaran O'Brien worked a give-and-go with Nunez eventually feeding a crashing Eric Avila who slipped it past Alamo into the right corner for the 1-0 advantage.
UCR answered with their own attack, Alamo hammered a kick downfield, with the ball landing just inside the UCSB box. Freshman Cito Soriano corralled the ball and headed over two Gaucho defenders to Walker who's shot to the bottom left corner beat UCSB keeper Bryant Rueckner to even it at 1-1.
Midway through the 62nd minute, Nunez dribbled through the Highlander defense to draw the defense to him, he then slipped the ball to his left to a wide-open O'Brien who beat Alamo to give UCSB the 2-1 advantage.
The Highlanders could not capitalize on a couple free-kicks inside Gaucho territory as time wound down and UCSB held on for the win.
Alamo finished with five saves and Rueckner made three saves.
UCR will continue their playoff push as they travel to UC Irvine on Wednesday and up to first-place Cal Poly on next Saturday.
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