The University of Redlands men's soccer team opened its 2013 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) campaign with a resounding win on Wednesday evening, defeating the Occidental College Tigers 3-1 at Farquhar Field. After falling behind by a goal midway through the first half, the Bulldogs showed resiliency and came from behind to score three goals in a 14-minute span during the second stanza to capture the exciting victory.
Both teams traded opportunities during the first 20 minutes, but neither side found the breakthrough. The Tigers eventually struck first when Marcus Brandford headed home a cross from John Richardson to give Occidental the one-goal lead.
The Bulldogs pushed for the equalizer before the half, but could not find it. At the break, Redlands held a 10-7 shots advantage, while Occidental registered four corner-kicks to just one for the U of R.
During the first portion of the second stanza, the Bulldogs continued to press the issue, but still could not get one past Occidental goalkeeper Tristan Cooper, who ended up with nine saves on the night.
Finally, the Maroon and Gray found what it was looking for in the 66th minute when senior forward Evan Keny-Guyer (Portland, OR) played a through ball to sophomore forward AJ VanderStaay (Bellingham, WA) who then found senior midfielder Jon Frisby (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) open in the middle of the box. Frisby calmly slotted the ball into the bottom-left corner of the goal, registering his first-ever score while donning a Bulldog uniform.
With the game tied at 1-1, junior midfielder Matej Kustura (Las Vegas, NV) ripped a shot off the left post. The ball ricocheted back to junior forward Charles Izydorek (Redlands, CA) who took the ball out of the air and volleyed his shot into the back of the net to give Redlands the lead.
Up by one, the Maroon and Gray continued to attack and scored its third goal of the evening in the 80th minute when junior defender Nico Johnson (Las Vegas, NV) tallied his first score of the year.
That was all the U of R would need, as it maintained its two-goal advantage for the 3-1 triumph.
On the night, the Bulldogs outshot the Tigers, 23-10, including a 12-3 shots-on-goal advantage.
Watch U of R Head Coach Ralph Perez talk about his team's performance after the win.
The Maroon and Gray looks forward to hosting the University of La Verne on Saturday evening in another SCIAC bout. Kickoff at Farquhar Field is set for 7 p.m.