Men's Soccer Beats #8 UCLA, 2-1, In Overtime

Sunday, September 13

Los Angeles, CA

5:00 PM

UC Riverside

3-3-0

UCLA

1-3-0

Team	1	2	OT 2	Final F
UC Riverside	0	1	1	2
UCLA	1	0	0	1

Photo by: Carlos Puma

Men's Soccer Beats #8 UCLA, 2-1, In Overtime

9/13/2015 7:26:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

Los Angeles, CA—The UC Riverside Men's Soccer Team got a second-half goal from Ricardo Ruiz to force overtime, and a UCLA own goal in the 95th minute to help the Highlanders beat the #8 Bruins, 2-1, Sunday evening (watch the game-winning goal).

It was the first win for UCR (3-3-0) in the all-time series against UCLA (view Division I series results), and the Highlanders second-ever victory over a nationally-ranked, non-conference opponent. The Highlanders topped #21 San Diego State, 2-0, on September 4, 2007. UCR's other seven wins over ranked opponents are against Big West teams including six since the 2011 campaign (view Division I results vs. ranked opponents).

Jose Hernandez put the Bruins on top in the 30th minute with his first score of the season, but Ruiz knotted things up with 19:28 to go in the match on a cross from Michael Salazar. It was Ruiz's first goal of the collegiate career (listen to the Bruins radio call of the goal, courtesy of the UCLA Sports Network and IMG).

The match remained tied through regulation, and with just over five minutes gone in the first bonus period, UCLA's Malcolm Jones tried to clear the ball from the Bruins' defensive 18. The ball carromed off of Ruiz and into the air towards UCLA keeper, Dakota Havlick. What should have been an easy play for the freshman, turned into the game-winning score as the ball bouned off of his hands and into the net, sending the Highlanders streaming onto the field (listen to the Bruins radio call of the goal courtesy of the UCLA Sports Network and IMG).

"Our team showed tremendous resilience tonight," said Head Coach Tim Cupello. "Early on we had some great chances that their goalkeeper came up big on. Once we went down, 1-0, we showed a lot of maturity to stay true to ourselves. I'm very proud of these guys as this was a huge team victory for our program."

The Highlanders remain on the road this week as they travel to Santa Clara on Friday, September 18 for a 7:30 pm PT kick off against the Broncos, and to St. Mary's Sunday, September 20 for a 3 pm start against the Gaels.