IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine men's soccer locked horns with UC Davis Wednesday night in a tense battle in Anteater Stadium finishing in a 1-1 draw.
EARLY RETURNS
A pair of programs that have excelled on the defensive end started their matchup this time with offense. UC Davis (6-7-1, 2-2-1) came out the aggressors holding early possession, and they reaped the rewards nine minutes in.
Maximilian Arfsten settled the ball along the right touchline and pelted a strong cross toward the top of the box finding Andy Velasquez whose header on goal was perfectly placed in the upper left 90 to make it a 1-0 Aggie lead in the 10th minute.
The Anteaters (4-7-3, 2-1-2) began to find their way, and really changed gears following a slew of subs in the 32nd minute. The energized lineup kept on the attack, and found an equalizer in the 36th minute.
Defender
Josh Kenworthy received the ball near the touchline and lifted a cross into the box. A leaping header from
Christian Bond-Flasza fell to
Jake Means whose half-volley sliced onto the crossbar and down across the line before quickly bouncing back off the bar and out, but enough for a goal and a tie game at 1-1.
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UNDER FIRE
The remaining 74 minutes of soccer were truly a tug-of-war with both attacks creating scoring opportunities while either defense continued to frustrated said attack and deny any scoring.
Both sides tested keepers as well. UCD goalie Charles Janssen withstood 16 UCI shots making eight saves. The best chance to break the tie was denied by UCI keeper
Gordon Botterill. Andy Velasquez was on the hunt for a brace in the 64th minute and found some space above the 18-yard box. His attempt seemed destined for the upper right, but Botterill went fully horizontal to swat the shot aside and preserve the tie.
UCI responded with a pair of near-goals of their own.
Ryan Khedoo came streaking up the right win in the 68th minute dishing to
Axel Adler up the middle of the pitch, but his first touch curled directly to Janssen on frame. As play entered the 76th minute, the build-up formed again for the Anteaters ending on
Ashish Chattha just outside the box unmarked, but his shot. whipped over the far post.
The match needed overtime with each side getting a few tries in the 10-minute periods. UCI had a pair of sharp-angle shots turned away, while UC Davis nearly sealed things twice in the final minutes. Robert Mejia received a cross right at the mouth of goal, but his header was driven into the ground and hopped over the bar in the 106th minute. Moments later, the Aggies were on the attack again, and Arfsten received a ball in the box before losing his defender and finishing into the net, but the offside flag was shown reversing the winner.
FINAL SCORE / 2OT: UC IRVINE 1, UC DAVIS 1
The sides came away with a point each tying 1-1, the first for UC Davis on the year. UCI led in most stat categories including 16-11 in shots, 9-4 in shots on target, and 9-6 in corner kicks.
"We dominated," captain
Beto Alvarenga believed. "You can see it on the scoresheet. Once we got back level, we put up a lot of shots and forced saves, we had them on their heels and scrambling, but it's just those little details that we need to clean up, and I feel personally like we'll get there."
Alvarenga and the Anteaters are now unbeaten in three straight against three of the programs projected to finish higher in the conference, but two draws from it has UC Irvine on eight points and in fifth place in the Big West, a point ahead of the Aggies.
Means with the equalizer now has two goals in his last three matches, and his three goals on the year matches him for the team lead. Assists from Bond-Flasza and Kenworthy were the second for each in 2021, and Bond-Flasza now totals four on his career.
Botterill's brief shutout streak ended just before the 200-mark, but he added four saves and is now unbeaten in over his last six matches.
"Personally, I feel like we weren't ourselves today," captain
Beto Alvarenga said of the squad. "This tie feels like a loss, honestly. For our standards, I feel like we should have won this game, and we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and really take accountability for it and move forward and try to get points on the road now on Saturday."
UCI's next match will come out of town at CSU Bakersfield, a program not projected to be sitting in its current position which is above UCI in the standings at nine points. The sides will matchup for the first time as Big West opponents, the first overall meeting since 2013, and kick things off at 7:00 p.m. with broadcast available on ESPN+.
