BAKERSFIELD, Calif. --- UC Irvine men's soccer grew its unbeaten streak to four matches thanks to a red-hot second half Saturday night at CSU Bakersfield's Main Soccer Field to win, 5-0.
STRONG START
Early in the match, either side had their chances on offense. CSU Bakersfield (4-8-1, 3-3-0) already had five shots and three corners earned through the first 15 minutes.
The Anteater offense made their first move count as the match entered the 20th minute. As the attack began to build,
Oscar Cervantes fed a ball along the wing to
Francesco Montanile who would do the rest weaving through the Runner defense as he entered the box and fired through a crowd and inside the far post for a 1-0 UCI lead.
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RELAY RACE
The 1-0 advantage stood into the half, but not for long. UC Irvine (5-7-3, 3-1-2) soon took the baton and sped out to a much bigger lead.
As
Gordon Botterill made his fourth save of the night, he gave the ball back to his offense back to building the attack.
Ashish Chattha would do so feeding to
Ricardo Ibarra on the wing, and he made space to slot a cross into the box to an unmarked
Beto Alvarenga who would gather and punt his shot into the roof for a 2-0 lead in the 60th minute.
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Alvarenga was back to another go just 99 seconds later for a brace. Cervantes carried and fired from about 30 yards as CSUB keeper, Scott Pengelly, tipped the ball up off the crossbar, but the rebound was pounced on by a streaking Alvarenga to head it off the bar and home for the 3-0 lead.
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The scoring continued with the third goal in the span of 3:24. Alvarenga was looking to complete his hat trick with a chip from just outside the box, but he found the woodwork as well, and this time
Rafael Espinoza was the beneficiary putting the ball back on frame and in for a 4-0 advantage for the 'Eaters.
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FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 5, CSU BAKERSFIELD 0
The cherry on top came with just under 90 seconds to go as the 'Eaters played along the right wing until
Lawrence Yamaguchi found an open
Kelvin Neumetzler whose first touch was on target and inside the far post for a 5-0 final score. This marks the second 5-goal effort for the head coach
Yossi Raz's Anteaters this season matching his team's best offensive night for a third time in his tenure.
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For a third time this season,
Gordon Botterill produced a shutout; the fifth on the year for the program. He finished with four saves as did Pengelly for CSUB. The 'Eaters finished with a 17-11 shot advantage scoring on five of nine shots on target.
"We played a very mature and complete game tonight," head coach
Yossi Raz said of his group. "It is not easy to go on the road in the Big West against such a quality team and come out with such a result. I'm happy for the players, and hope that we can build on this performance."
Goal scorers on the night featured two first-timers in
Francesco Montanile and
Rafael Espinoza. Montanile's goal turned out to be the game-winner as now five different Anteaters have accounted for the five game-winners. Espinoza's goal is his first and first career point. He makes it 18 Anteaters with a point, 13 posting their first career point, and 10 with their first career goal in 2021.
Alvarenga's brace is his first, now with four career goals and three this year, all in Big West play. He briefly tied for the team high until Neumetzler's strike late which gives him back the UCI lead with four this year.
FINAL HOMESTAND
The regular season is down to three matches including the final two in Anteater Stadium this week. On the docket for Wednesday, October 20, is a second straight Big West newcomers as UC San Diego comes to Irvine for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff. Saturday, October 23, will be UCI's Senior Day match kicking off at 7:00 p.m. UCI hosts CSUN, and will honor its eight seniors.
The win hoists UC Irvine into a tie for second place in the standings on 11 points with Cal Poly, who drew with UC Santa Barbara Saturday night.
