No. 3 UC Irvine Upended, 3-0, by Matadors
October 25, 2014 | Men's Soccer
IRVINE, Calif. --- The Anteater home streak of 11 wins and 800 minutes without allowing a goal came to a screeching halt Saturday night at Anteater Stadium suffering a 3-0 loss to CSUN.
The first half had its moments beginning with a chance for Cal State Northridge (6-8-2, 2-4-1) to open the scoring. A yellow card in the box by 'Eater keeper Michael Breslin gave way to a penalty kick, however, CSUN's Marino Peixoto clanged the crossbar holding the match scoreless.
UC Irvine (11-3-2, 3-3-1) would counter shortly after as Mats Bjurman sliced a free kick into the box. Cameron Iwasa's header flicked off the crossbar with the rebound going straight up and landing in front of the goal. Bryan Breslin ran onto the bounding ball, but his follow-up would be cleared off the line by the CSUN defense.
Halftime would commence with 10 total shots and just one on target.
The second half rolled on until the Matadors broke the silence in the 63rd minute. Gabe Robinson's throw-in fell to Patrick Hickman who lost possession to the 'Eater defense, but the clearance landed right back to Hickman who deposited a nifty shot through traffic inside the left post to make it 1-0, CSUN.
The Anteaters charged on peppering Matador keeper, Adam Hobbs, but were unsuccessful on their seven second-half shots on target.
CSUN would take advantage as Sagi Lev-Ari knocked home his own rebound in the 78th minute. The Matadors added a final tally in the 88th minute with Lev-Ari on the scene again for the brace and end the match, 3-0.
Breslin stopped two shots in net. The 'Eater offense was led by Iwasa with four shots, three on target. Bryan Breslin also had a pair of shots on goal.
No. 3 UCI still sits on top of the Big West South division with 10 points tied with its next opponent, Cal State Fullerton. CSUN rounds out the group with seven points while UC Riverside hangs in the third tournament spot with eight points.
The 'Eaters and Titans converge on Titan Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 29, for a 7:00 p.m. to battle for the top of the table.
__________________________________________________________
For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.
For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and by downloading the UCI Front Row app, available free to all Anteater fans through iTunes and Google Play, to view schedules, results, and up-to-the-minute news.
