The No. 15 University of Redlands men's soccer team extended its current winning streak to 16 games by firing off a 3-0 victory in Wednesday's semifinal round of the 2011 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament against the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer Colleges.
Although the Bulldogs dominated the stat sheet, the ball game had a highly competitive and intense feel from the opening kickoff. Redlands more than doubled Pomona-Pitzer's shot total, 21-10, and crushed the Sagehens on corner kicks with a 10-0 advantage.
In addition, Redlands' defensive third teamed up with senior goalkeeper Jason Smuckler (Woodland Hills, CA) for a tremendous effort, allowing only three shots-on-goal en route to the squad's 13th shutout victory of 2011.
Check out the Bulldogs starting line up introduction
In the waning moments of the first half, the Bulldogs tacked on the first score of the game when the conference's leading scorer, freshman forward Charles Izydorek (Redlands, CA), creatively made the most of opportunity. Fellow freshman midfielder Matej Kustura (Las Vegas, CA) took a corner just before the 43rd minute and punched it into the middle of the box where a large jumble erupted before Izydorek back-heeled the ball into the Sagehens' net.
Watch the goal and Izydorek's classic back flip
Neither team could connect in the early part of the second half until Bulldog junior forward Alex Laughton (Pleasanton, CA) uncorked a ripper into the upper-left corner at the 71:04-mark for his fifth goal of the season. With a long throw-in toss, Izydorek set up the score for his fifth assist on the year.
Senior forward Cody Carlson (Burbank, CA) put the icing on the cake just over six minutes later, capping off the Bulldogs' hat trick with a smoking shot into the top-left corner. Working with Carlson on the play, senior forward Jamie Griffin (Seattle, WA) fed his teammate with a solid cross from the Sagehens' deep left corner.
Carlson completes the Hat Trick
The back line of senior Danny Day (Beaverton, OR), junior Brad Jackson (Medina, WA), sophomore Richie Marquez (Pomona, CA) and freshman Nico Johnson (Las Vegas, NV) kept the Sagehen offense in check, allowing very few goal-scoring opportunities. Making his first career postseason start, Smuckler stepped up for the U of R by making several key reads off of his line while notching three total saves. The goalkeeper's biggest moment came with 8:33 left in the contest as he stopped freshman forward Nate Shekita's (San Jose, CA) point-blank shot from inside the six to preserve the shutout.
Redlands (18-3-0) welcomes rival second-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges to Farquhar Field on Saturday at 1 p.m. for the SCIAC Postseason Tournament Final. Earlier tonight, the Stags downed Whittier College by a score of 4-0 in the other semifinal match.