UC Riverside
UC Irvine
Second Half UC Irvine Rally Sinks Highlanders
10/11/2008 2:24:00 PM | Men's Soccer
For the first 60 minutes of Saturday evening's Big West tilt with #23 UC Irvine it was difficult to tell which team entered the game with a national ranking as the Highlanders (3-8-1, 0-3-0) and Anteaters (8-1-3, 1-1-1) were knotted at one goal apiece.
But UCI took control in the second half and UCR played a man down for the final 10:09 as the Anteaters walked away with the 4-2 victory. Carlos Aguilar got the scoring started for UC Irvine as Matt Murphy sent a cross into the box which Aguilar deposited in the back of the net for his second goal of the year.
Joel Crompton (Pleasanton, CA) tied things up for UCR with less than four minutes to go before halftime on a quick restart off of a free kick for his second goal of the season. With 15 minutes gone in the second period the teams were still tied at one, when Highlanders keeper Ryan Schmitz (San Diego, CA) was forced to leave the goal to contest an open shot to his left. The shot ricocheted off the left post, and in the subsequent free-for-all in the box, a UCR player was called for a hand ball setting up a penalty kick. Murphy took the kick beating Schmitz in the lower right hand corner for his sixth goal of the year and a 2-1 lead.
As the Highlanders scrambled for the tying score, Cesar Diaz (Chino, CA) was issued a red card for excessive physical play with 10:09 left in the second half. Over that span, Murphy was able to connect for his seventh goal of the year less than two minutes later off of a free kick just outside the box, and Norby Rodriguez picked up his first goal of the season for the Anteaters with 1:05 to go in the game. Crompton ended the scoring with one second left in the contest with his second goal of the evening and third of the season.
The Highlanders travel to UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, October 14 for a 7 pm kick off.
