Five-Goal Flurry Favors Anteaters in Big West Semifinal
November 12, 2014 | Men's Soccer
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara came together for another Big West Tournament thriller Wednesday night in Santa Barbara in the form of a 3-2 Anteater victory.
UCSB (10-7-3, 6-2-2) wasted no time getting the scoring going in the first minute. A Gerardo Gonzalez-handball in the box opened the door for Drew Murphy to slip a penalty kick home for the 1-0 UCSB lead just 54 seconds into the match.
The Gauchos rode the momentum early on putting up 10 of the first 12 shots, but the Anteaters found the equalizer in the 38th minute.
Gor Kirakosyan's corner kick floated to the other side of the box finding a charging Matthew Tilley who would head it back to the left post and in, tying the match at 1-1.
The match remained tied going into the half thanks to a pair of stellar Michael Breslin saves on Gaucho 1v1 opportunities.
UC Irvine (14-5-2, 4-5-1) would be rewarded for it by grabbing the lead early in the second half. Cameron Iwasa jumped on a ball and pushed his one-man attack up the field cutting left inside the box and slotting a shot by Gaucho keeper, Brandon Berke, and inside the right post to put UCI up, 2-1, in the 47th minute.
The lead was short-lived as Andy Perez pressured on the other end staggering into the box and evading the oncoming keeper before tapping a pass to Axel Mendez who finished a point-blank goal tie it back up, 2-2, just 83 seconds later.
Both sides rattled off chances through the remainder of the second half before the Dennis Martinez drove home the game-winner in the 82nd minute from the dead center of the box and seal the 3-2, semifinal victory.
The win places the Anteaters in the Big West Final for the second straight year and fifth time in the last six. The win for Breslin was his 34th all-time and fourth in tournament play with the help of five saves. His counterpart, Berke, finished with three.
Tilley and Iwasa provided goals in for the second game in a row. Tilley's was No. 2 on the season while Iwasa bagged No. 4. Iwasa also joined 10 other Anteaters with 20-career goals.
Martinez's game-winner was his third of the season of his five goals overall, all coming against ranked opponents.
Assists for Gonzalez and Kirakosyan were their fifth each, and they join Iwasa atop the team with that total.
The 'Eaters' next task is one that the soccer world is salivating over with a third match against Cal State Fullerton in Anteater Stadium. The Big West South mashup will take place on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 7:00 p.m. to claim the Big West Tournament crown.
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