SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- UC Irvine men's soccer got goals from three different upperclassmen to post a second straight win and third straight match unbeaten Wednesday night downing the host Toreros, 3-1.
NOT WASTING TIME
Right off the bat, the Anteaters (2-4-1) were on the attack. UCI had the match's first two shots, but the third one landed.
Josh Kenworthy lofted a ball right to
Christian Bond-Flasza on the doorstep who fed it back to
Oscar Delgado for a shot off a Torero and in to make it 1-0, Anteaters, in the sixth minute.
The next Anteater shot found the back of the net as well.
Ricardo Ibarra charged through the defense before dishing back out to the wing. The cross would come back in to Ibarra flicked it on to
Christian Bond-Flasza to swat it home in the 20th minute for a 2-0 advantage going into the half even with USD (1-6) holding the 6-4 shot advantage.
KEEP ADDING ON
The Toreros kept adding shots and chances, but the 'Eaters were back with more scoring coming in the 52nd minute. A six-pass sequence built up to
Ashish Chattha flipping a pass over the defense to
Ricardo Ibarra once again ready to dish to the wide-open
Kelvin Neumetzler on the doorstep for the goal and 3-0 lead.
USD kept testing
Luke Pruter in just his first career start and second game needing him to make multiple stops in each half. USD finally got to Pruter in the 66th minute on a long shot from the top of the box to cut the lead to 3-1.
Pruter kept the Toreros out of the net the rest of the way to pick up the win.
FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 3, SAN DIEGO 1
The win marks three straight unbeaten for the 'Eaters and two straight wins with eight total goals in them. Pruter earned the win in his first career start nearly matching
Gordon Botterill's UCI debut by stopping nine shots in the process. The goal also ended a streak of 266 scoreless minutes put up by the Anteater defense.
The three goals came from a trio of Anteater veterans starting with
Oscar Delgado and ending with
Kelvin Neumetzler who each have goals in consecutive matches. Neumetzler, the reigning Big West Offensive Player of the Week, now has three goals in that two-match stretch while Delgado has five points over the past two matches.
The game-winner went to
Christian Bond-Flasza that also went down as the first goal of his career in addition to his first game with a goal and an assist. Other assists went to Chattha, his first as an Anteater, and a pair for Ibarra, his second career match with two assists.
THE ROAD GOES ON
The unbeaten and win streaks live on to the next location as the 'Eaters try to build a road win streak on Sunday night, 7:00 p.m. kickoff, at UNLV.
