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Anteaters Break Through on Cardenas' Winner
October 13, 2012 | Men's Soccer
IRVINE, Calif. --- In a match full of toughness and edge, the small-but-mighty Enrique Cardenas put the punctuation mark at the end of it with an 86th minute goal to defeat Cal State Fullerton, 2-1, Saturday night at Anteater Stadium.
Cardenas wrangled a bounding ball that was flicked on by freshman Pavle Atanackovic in the box. His shot trickled off Titan keeper Robbie Hannon's mitts and inside the left post for the eventual game-winner.
Atanackovic was instrumental in getting UCI back in the game earlier. CSUF (4-10-1, 0-4-1) would score in the 59th minute as Jesse Escalante deflected a hard cross past Anteater keeper Michael Breslin. One minute later, Christopher Santana laced a shot right at Hannon, but the shot ricocheted off him and directly to a streaking Atanackovic who would bury the header to tie the match back up in the 60th minute.
The match had a consistent physicality throughout garnering 28 fouls and five yellow cards.
UCI (4-9-1, 1-4-0) had some prime opportunities which included Cameron Iwasa misfiring high in a 1v1 attempt at the top of the box.
UCI weathered a furious Titan storm in the 76th minute as CSUF had numerous chances coming off of three corner kicks and four shots in a two-minute span.
They had a chance to take the lead in the 86th minute as well. Anthony Rosales directed a header off a corner kick on net, but a huge save by a UCI defender would stop it and begin the counter attack that led to Cardenas' goal.
UCI jumps right back into the Big West mix with the win. It now stands at 1-4-0 in the Big West South, tied with UC Riverside who lost in double overtime. The two schools will go at each other for a big upper hand in the postseason race on Wednesday as the 'Eaters travel to UCR for a 7:00 p.m. match.
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