The No. 7 University of Redlands men's soccer team took the short trip to Pomona-Pitzer Colleges for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match on Saturday morning. In an emotionally charged showdown, the Bulldogs faced an early two-goal deficit but answered with three unanswered goals for an exciting 3-2 come-from-behind win.
The start of the game was all Redlands, as the visiting team took two shots and earned three corner kicks in the first seven minutes of action. The Bulldogs' best chance came off of a header from senior midfielder Sergio Valencia (San Jose, CA) that forced the Sagehen keeper to make a nice save.
Pomona-Pitzer gained some momentum by jumping on the board in the 21st minute. Although Redlands outshot the home team, 7-4, in the next 18 minutes of play, one of the Sagehens' opportunities found the back of the net to put Redlands in a two-goal hole late in the first half.
Not even a minute later, junior defender Joey Kenney (Portland, OR) worked the ball down the field with a crisp pass to sophomore midfielder Dylan Carlyle (San Jose, CA), who found an open junior forward Kayvon Parsa (West Hills, CA). Parsa blasted the ball through the posts to cut the deficit in half.
Although the Bulldogs earned four more corner kicks in the last five minutes of the first half, they could not capitalize on the opportunities and entered halftime still down 1-2.
Ten minutes into the second stanza, senior midfielder Casey ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR) worked his way around the defenders to rocket the ball past the Sagehen keeper for the 2-2 equalizer.
With the clock winding down, both teams were attempting to score the game-winner. In the 83rd minute, senior defender Ben Thompson (Spokane, WA) headed the ball to the far post off of Valencia's free kick for Redlands' 3-2 advantage.
The Bulldogs held off Pomona-Pitzer in the remaining seven minutes to earn an important 3-2 SCIAC victory. Redlands finished the day with an impressive 21-11 advantage on shots while earning 17 corner kicks to the Sagehens' five.
Redlands (2-3-0, 2-0-0 SCIAC) looks to remain in the win column by taking on Cal Lutheran University Wednesday, September 13, on Farquhar Field at 7 p.m.
