IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer scored another offensive win downing San Jose State, 3-0, Friday night in Anteater Stadium.
DESTINEE'S WILD
The Anteaters (3-1-1) were on the front foot to start the forcing the issue with multiple scoring chances.
Destinee Manzo delivered each of UCI's first two shots missing the target, but her third was right on the money. The collected the ball near midfield and made a break for goal taking a shot as she approached the 18-yard box and smashed the crossbar before it bounced over the line and into the roof of the net for a 1-0 Anteater lead in the 14th minute.
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Fourteen minutes later, Manzo was at it again. This time starting with a free kick along the sideline.
Tati Fung stood over the ball and skipped a shot into the box directly to Manzo who took a touch, turned, and delivered inside the left post for her second of the game and a 2-0 lead in the 28th minute.
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FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 3, SAN JOSE STATE 0
The second half was more of the Anteater attack controlling the tempo. They added a second score in the 55th minute on a nifty bit of teamwork.
Jenika Davis and
Alex Jaquez connected to shoot a ball ahead to a streaking
Laila El Behery. She made a run on goal, sidestepped a Spartan defender, and buried her shot from 12 yards to make it a 3-0 lead for the Anteaters.
"I had no idea that they were going to do that play, but I thought I'm just going to run and get to the ball. Plays like that show me that we're doing way better. We're getting back to where we were before the Cal State Fullerton match. We're slowly getting to where we were like how we started the season against Cal."
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San Jose State (0-3-0) made a valiant effort adding seven shots of their own, but the only one to test
Glo Hinojosa in net she punched away from an in-swinging corner kick. Hinojosa needed just one save to record her 13th career shutout and third of the year along with her defense led by
Maddy Chavez.
"I feel like we had a really good start to the season and we were on a high. Then we got a little reality check with the LMU and Cal State Fullerton matches, but now we're slowly building up our momentum. Tonight, as a team we always just want to start out on the strong foot and keep going over and over again. Even when we fee like we're up, we want to get as many as we can. As a unit, we press really hard together and work really hard to create a lot of chances."
Manzo finished with her second career brace giving her seven goals for her career along with game-winning goal No. 3 in her career. She followed her three-point night on Tuesday with a four-point night.
Tati Fung added to her point total as well with an assist after five on Tuesday night. El Behery knocked in her first point of 2022 adding to her three goals a year ago. Jaquez has points in consecutive matches after a goal on Tuesday, and
Jenika Davis got her name on the stat sheet for the first time in her career with an assist for her first collegiate point.
The 'Eaters now have wins in consecutive matches and have gone eight straight at home unbeaten. They'll have a chance to extend that in their next match on Thursday, September 8, hosting San Diego for a 7:00 p.m. match.
