Chills and Thrills Fill 4-3 Overtime Loss
October 31, 2012 | Men's Soccer
IRVINE, Calif. --- It sounds cliché, but the small, festive crowd at Anteater Stadium Wednesday night was treated to some exciting soccer along with some trickery despite the 4-3 loss at the hands of the UC Riverside Highlanders.
With UCR (10-7-0, 3-6-0) fighting for its postseason life, Richie Osborne managed to tie the match in the 64th minute and then end it in the 97th minute of overtime. Osborne used similar shots on both goals.
In the 64th minute, he and Juan Mendoza touched back and forth down the wing until Osborne took a run and chipped a shot from the corner of the box up and over UCI keeper Elliot Farmer. The ball rattled in after banking off the post to tie the match.
Osborne did it again the overtime period. Eric Gonzalez slipped a sharp cross into the box to Julio Reyes. Reyes danced with it for a bit before pushing it to Osborne who put a little more pace on this shot right into the upper right corner to end the match.
The Highlanders had been reeling after UCI struck for a pair of quick goals early in the second half. Christopher Santana tied the match up in the 54th minute after Mitchell Alvarez played a nice ball to him, and Santana did the rest weaving and ball-handling around the defender before smashing a one-hopper that ended up perfectly between the post and the diving Highlander keeper.
Five minutes later, Santana was at it again. This time, he launched a free kick from the near sideline into the box, and Tarek Morad got a back heel on it to redirect the ball in and give UCI the lead in the 64th minute. Morad had another chance to put the game away on a penalty kick in the 84th minute, but UCR keeper Ashkan Khosravi's diving save prolonged the match.
The first half had plenty of excitement as UCR took the initial lead in the sixth minute as Juan Valladolid converted a header off an Eric Gonzalez corner kick.
UCI (4-14-1, 1-8-0) countered in the 18th minute as Everett Pitts found a streaking Santana through midfield. Santana played a slick ball between two defenders to Thom Moreira. Moreira's shot slipped through Khosravi's hands and rolled towards the post before bounding off it and in to tie the match up.
UCR had the final laugh in the half as Mendoza shuffled a free kick aside to Humberto Santiago who would blast a laser in the upper left corner to give UCR the lead back and hold it until halftime.
Altogether, the teams combined for 29 shots with 18 of them on target
It match had its share of physicality as well with seven yellow cards issued between the teams.
Santana controlled the stats for UCI with a goal and a pair of assists. He also fired off six shots with four on target. Eleven players in all earned a point with four having a hand in multiple goals.
Each keeper had an outstanding night despite the goal totals. Farmer and Khosravi each had numerous diving and sprawling saves. Farmer came away with four while Khosravi cleaned up with seven.
UCI's season concludes on Saturday, November 3rd with a 7:00 p.m. match at Big West South division champ and No. 20 Cal State Northridge.
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