IRVINE, Calif. --- A magnificent come-from-behind win Wednesday night in Anteater Stadium gave the Anteaters their first of the season fueled by two late goals from
Agaton Pourshahidi to blindside Cal State Fullerton, 3-2.
ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE
The stage was set Wednesday night as Big West play opened in Anteater Stadium, and a crowd of 1,175 fans packed the stands to see it; the largest for a men's soccer match since 2012.
The crowd was treated to attacking futbol early on with the Anteaters (1-8-1, 1-0-0) on the charge.
Ashish Chattha and
Robert Mejia each laced rockets just over the bar in the first four minutes, and on the other end, Cal State Fullerton (5-4-2, 0-1-0) was testing 'Eater keeper
Luke Pruter who needed to make three saves in the first 12 minutes.
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The half raged on and soon the goals came starting with the Titans drawing first blood. Julian Madrigal shot up the right wing before feeding Reziq Banihani in the box who tracked across and fired against the grain and by Pruter for a 1-0 Fullerton lead in the 24th minute.
UCI continued to come at the Titans registering the next three shots including the equalizer in the 32nd minute. A fabulous build-up was touched along by half of the field players before finding Mejia on the left wing. A lead pass to
Ricardo Ibarra opened up the box enough for Ibarra to return a pass to Mejia who slid a shot just between the keeper and the far post to make it 1-1.
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RALLYING CRY
UCI went into the break with a sizable advantage on the scoreboard in shots, 12-7, and three of the five corners, yet were still level 1-1, and the Titans soon took the lead back in the 58th minute. Both sides have glorious chances in the first 10 minutes, but CSF cashed in thanks to a pinpoint cross from Jorge Quintero dotting Jessy Sotelo near the far post who dropped a perfect header into the back of the net for another Cal State Fullerton lead. 2-1.
The Titans were on the front foot searching for insurance and nearly found in minutes later, but Pruter was keen to the Quintero shot nabbing his sixth save of the evening.
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UCI would take back the match however the in 72nd minute from the power of the super subs. Just minutes prior,
Agaton Pourshahidi,
Rafael Espinoza, and
Samuel Atiye were into the match as second half subs, and Atiye started the attack on a steal in enemy territory. His feed to Espinoza on the right of the 18-yard box was quickly dished inside to Pourshahidi who found a little bit of daylight and sunk his shot inside the left post to tie it up again, 2-2.
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The quest was now on for the decisive strike with 17 minutes to go. The physicality was amped up as shown by three cautions in less than a minute between the sides around the 80th minute. The Titans had a golden opportunity in the 88th minute, but Pruter stood tall to stone Sebastian Cruz's missile from short range.
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The offense rewarded him with a chance on the other end about 90 seconds later started on a high cross from
Oscar Cervantes. The masked midfielder dropped a ball to
Eddy Berumen who positioned himself nicely for the back heel flick to Pourshahidi who danced his way into a shot and the finishing blow scoring with 64 seconds left in the game and the 3-2 lead.
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FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 3, CAL STATE FULLERTON 2
The impressive comeback gives UC Irvine its long-awaited first win of 2022 coming in its 10th match. Most importantly, it gives the Anteaters a leg up in the standings as Big West play begins and secures three points for the program projected to finish in a tie for first in the preseason poll.
Pourshahidi claimed his first career brace scoring goals two and three of his season and career as the team nearly doubled its goal total for the season just on Wednesday night alone.
"Once I'm in the box, I want to get it on goal, you know? I don't always have to have a clear view. If you create opportunities for yourself, you just need to get shots on goal, it doesn't have to be perfect."
The imperfect method produced perfect results in the win, and numerous other Anteaters contributed with assists from Espinoza, Berumen, Cervantes, and Atiye all for their first of the season and the first in the careers of Espinoza and Atiye. Another first was for
Robert Mejia and his first goal as an Anteater helping himself along with the team's active points and assists leader,
Ricardo Ibarra, with the ninth of his career for his 13th point.
"We've been having trouble with results and it's felt heavy psychologically. Going down twice was giving us flashbacks from all our unfortunate games this season so it's really great the morale we showed coming back two times to get the result we deserved."
Pruter once again was a key contributor in next with seven saves in net to match his season best and fourth career match with seven or more saves with many of them coming in huge points in the match. The match's importance could not be understated as the 'Eaters sit atop the Big West after one matchday alongside UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, and Sac State. The win also ends a drought of 11 straight matches without a win dating back to 2021 and three goals in a match for the first time in 15 contests.
"We know that our way to the NCAAs is through the Big West. We knew that from the start and this is what really matters. We've been trying to leave our non-conference results behind us, and I think this is really the energy we need coming from this big win."
The week and conference continues for the Anteaters with a Sunday evening match at Cal Poly with kickoff at 5:00 p.m. The rest of the Big West will have played Saturday and the 'Eaters and Mustangs playing a day later to avoid a conflict with Cal Poly's Saturday football game.
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