IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine men's soccer hosted their Big West Tournament First Round match in Anteater Stadium Wednesday night, and put together a furious comeback to try and erase a three-goal deficit, but could not climb the mountain losing, 3-2, to CSUN.
Bulls on Parade
The programs clashed for the second time in five days, and for the second straight time CSUN (8-7-3, 2-3-2) got out on the front foot from some fortunate bounces. The Matadors broke out on the attack and Daniel Trejo found Julio Rubio on the left wing. Rubio went to cross a ball in, but his left-footed feed faded and drifted on goal eventually settling inside the upper right corner for an unexpected score to make it 1-0 Matadors in the seventh minute.
CSUNÂ stepped on the gas in the 23rd minute after a long, driving free kick from their own end. Initial contact was made and landed to Samuel Salter who flicked the ball ahead to Trejo who took it and ran down the right wing bearing down on goal and finishing the 1v1 opportunity to grow the lead to 2-0 CSUNÂ 23 minutes in.
At Odds
The half raged on with an heightened intensity from either side. With it came numerous cautions starting in the 19th minute with a card to the Matadors. By the time the margin was two, cards were issued every couple of minutes starting with yellows to
Eddy Berumen in the 29th minute and
Eder Oliva in the 34th minute. CSUNÂ picked up three quickly starting with one for time wasting and then two more back-to-back for three cards in the span of 84 seconds.
Jose Ortiz added a final card in the 43rd minute for seven cautions in the half, all coming in 27 minutes, and as part of 17 total fouls committed, 11 towards the visitors.
Tipping the Scales
The second half began with Anteaters (7-7-5, 4-2-1) still searching for something to get on the scoreboard pushing with a full-on attack.
Kelvin Neumetzler had a golden chance to draw CSUN back getting an unmarked header chance from 10 yards out in the 50th minute, but his shot sailed high.
The 'Eaters continued to press getting into the attacking third, but most of their opportunities were flipped away or blocked before becoming a threat.
The Matadors found the good fortune when it came to scoring in the 73rd minute. A foul near midfield allowed CSUN to set up and punt a ball into the box. After knocking it down, the defense looked to clear, but blasted a ball off of Matador Khalid Hunter sending it back on goal and in putting CSUN up, 3-0, with just over 15 minutes remaining.
Coming All The Way Back
The Anteaters had a mountain to climb and still hadn't scored on CSUN in over 170 minutes this year. UCI got a glimmer of hope in the 82nd minute as
Roberto Molina drew a foul on the left wing putting
Christian Gutierrez on the ball. His free kick skipped along and through the box untouched settling inside the far post and breathing life in the Anteaters who now trailed, 3-1, in the 82nd minute.
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The attack intensified with UC Irvine leading the charge. Molina found the ball on his feet on the left wing all alone, but his shot was turned away in the 87th minute.
Victor Falck had a chance at the top of the box, but misfired high.
With the final minute approaching, the 'Eaters found an avenue with a quick restart off a foul in CSUN's third. Falck fed
Jose Ortiz who whipped around and fired from outside the semicircle and inside the left post closing the deficit to 3-2 with 74 seconds to play.
It seemed just not enough time to build another surge as CSUNÂ held onto the lead to advance to the semifinals
Final Score: [6] CSUN 3, [3] UC Irvine 2
Wednesday marked just the second time all season the 'Eaters had allowed three goals in a match, the other ending in a draw with No. 22 LMU.
The 'Eaters are now winless in their last Big West Tournament matches (0-2-2) after having won 10 of their first 11 as they competed in six of the first seven Big West Tournaments from 2008-14.
Goals for
Christian Gutierrez and
Jose Ortiz were the 26th and 27th for the program this year. Gutierrez remains atop the squad in goals with seven and points with 14.
Ortiz put away his fourth on the year tying him for second on the team with Falck, and puts him over 40 points for his career with 41 to go with 17 goals.
Assists went to
Roberto Molina and
Victor Falck. Molina recorded his third giving him nine points now, third-most on the squad alongside Ortiz. Falck added his third assist as well, and his 11 points keep him second on the team.
Ford Parker registered just one save on the evening. CSUN only put up seven shots to UC Irvine's 17 as Matador keeper stopped four of them. UCI also put up 11 corner kicks to CSUN's one in addition to a majority of the possession in the match.
After the seven cards were dished out in the opening half, none were given in the final 45 minutes in a match with 33 totals fouls, 21 committed by the visiting Matadors.
Hear from the Anteaters
Victor Falck "Tonight felt, to me, a bit chaotic. We know that they're very aggressive and physical, and last game they got the best out of us that way.
We weren't focused on our game, and we fell into the same pattern this game where we were too focused on their physical game instead of focusing on ours which we started to find more in the second half, creating some chances, but ultimately not enough.
They got two crazy, lucky goals - a failed cross that goes in and a clearance that bounches off them - so it's tough, but this is what we deserved."
Christian Gutierrez "Even from the first goal we believed that we could come back. We knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but we knew that it was going to come eventually. Whenever that first goal clicked, we were going to get our rhythm and it was going to be good. I was fortunate enough to put the first one in and get the team going which was the most important thing."
Jose Ortiz "My goal it was just a quick play. I struck it, and it was a quick bounce and maybe got lucky on the goalkeeper, but after that goal I felt like we were really energized to try to get another one with such little time left, and I'm proud of us for that.
Next Steps
The Anteaters will await their fate on Monday, November 17 as the NCAA Selection Show will air at 10:00 a.m. on ncaa.com. UC Irvine currently sits with an RPI of 43 and a record of 7-7-5 finishing third in the Big West, the sixth-highest rated conference in the country out of 24 along with facing the seventh-toughest non-conference schedule in the nation.
