RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- UC Irvine struggled in its first Big West South matchup dropping to UC Riverside, 3-0, Wednesday night at UCR Soccer Stadium.
UCI (3-11, 1-4) got the early chances with four of the first five shots and a pair on target. Elliot Farmer, making his first start in almost a month, had an early save, but UCR (9-4-1, 4-0-1) got the scoring going soon after.
The Highlanders' leading scorer Romario Lomeli drove along the touchline and beat Farmer near side to take the 1-0 lead in the 24th minute.
UCR extended the lead, again thanks to Lomeli, as his cross found Stephen Copley at the goal mouth to make it 2-0 in the 28th minute.
A third strike in the 42nd minute was headed home off a corner by Philipp Dominique, again assisted by Lomeli, and put the Highlanders up 3-0 heading into the half despite a 12-8 shot advantage for the Anteaters.
The 'Eaters continued to dominate the shot chart outshooting UCR 10-3 in the second half, but could not put anything away thus falling by a final of 3-0.
Farmer finished with four saves while his counterpart, Vincent Morales, upped his Big West-leading save total with eight on the night.
UC Irvine finished with 22 shots, eight on goal from seven different Anteaters. Gaines was the only 'Eater to put two on frame while Jose Ortiz led all players with four shots.
The loss drops UCI to the bottom of the Big West South still with just three points, a single point behind Cal State Fullerton. UCI gets another chance to earn Big West points when it returns to Anteater Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 15 for a 7:00 p.m. match against CSUN.
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