IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine men's soccer took another big step toward a tournament berth putting away UC San Diego, 2-0, Wednesday night at Anteater Stadium.
SAVING GRACE
The match began with the goalies front and center.
Francesco Montanile fired first forcing a save from UCSD keeper Nick Shor. The Tritons (4-10, 1-6) returned the favor testing UCI keeper
Gordon Botterill. The 6-5 keeper needed to make a pair of high-quality saves to keep UCSD out of the net through the first 20 minutes.
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SCORING SENSE
After the early showing from the goalies, the goals started to rain down beginning with
Ashish Chattha. The 'Eaters began to build up the left wing ending with
Beto Alvarenga passing back through the box, dummied by
Christian Bond-Flasza, and hitting the right foot of Chattha inside the near post for a 1-0 Anteater lead in the 25th minute.
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The attack continued adding a second goal in the 41st minute. This time up the right wing, the ball fell to
Ryan Khedoo who made a brilliant turn onto goal. His shot was denied, but the rebound landed at
Oscar Delgado who put it back on frame finding
Kelvin Neumetzler to tap in and grow the lead to 2-0.
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FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 2, UC SAN DIEGO 0
The Anteaters stretched their unbeaten streak to five matches now for a 6-7-3 mark overall and 14 Big West points with a 4-1-2 record. The Anteaters and Tritons met up for the first time as Division I and Big West opponents Wednesday night, and the first meeting since 1996 between them.
"Today like any other game in the Big West was very challenging," noted head coach
Yossi Raz. "UCSD gave us different problems and ultimately the boys were able to prevail and earn another win with a shutout. We set ourselves in the upper part of the conference where we're hoping to consistently be. Now we have to clear our mind and get ready for CSUN. We look forward to the challenge and hope to have a packed house to honor our amazing senior group."
On top of the offensive effort,
Gordon Botterill did his part in net stopping six shots including a huge save in the 66th minute to keep the clean sheet. The shutout is the team's sixth and fifth he's been part of as he continues to lower his conference-best goals-against-average to 0.65. He's now built a shutout streak to a season-high 280 minutes.
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The goals came from Chattha, his third and makes him the first 'Eater this season with multiple game-winners, and Neumetzler, who adds to his team high now at five. Four assists on the night went to
Oscar Delgado, tying for the team high with three, a second for
Beto Alvarenga, the first of
Jake Means' career, and the first point as an Anteater for
Ryan Khedoo making him the 19th Anteater with a point this season.
UCSDÂ hung with the 'Eaters with 10 shots to their 13, and two more corner kicks than the 'Eaters. Noah Sonenstein was shown the door in the 81st minute earning a yellow and red card all at once.
SENIOR NIGHT
The next match on the docket will be ther final home match of the regular season for UCI on Saturday, October 23. The eight Anteater seniors will be honored post-match after UCI hosts CSUN with kick off at 7:00 p.m. UCI will have a chance to clinch a postseason berth on Saturday as well with a single point.
