The University of Redlands men's soccer team welcomed the University of La Verne to Farquhar Field for a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) contest on a comfortable Saturday evening. Although the score was knotted at 1-1, the home team turned up the heat to score two more goals en route to a 3-1 victory.
The first half was a game of counterattacks that included plenty of speed and physical contact by both sides. The Bulldogs lit up the Leopards' defensive third by taking 12 shots in the opening stanza. On the other side of the field, Redlands responded to the Leopards' long-ball attack, as highlighted by junior defender Nick DeQuiroz's (San Jose, CA) beautifully executed slide-tackle to break up a one-on-one opportunity just outside of the box.
Redlands jumped on the board in the 44th minute when sophomore forward Antony Chonga (San Diego, CA) converted a penalty kick that resulted from a foul in the box.
Although the Leopards tied it up in the 55th minute, the knotted score didn't last long. Redlands earned another penalty kick when junior forward Kayvon Parsa (West Hills, CA) was fouled as he headed toward the goal after intercepting a flubbed goal-kick by the La Verne goalkeeper. Parsa stepped up to the line and successfully converted the opportunity for the eventual game-winner and the 2-1 lead.
On a throw-in in the 71st minute, junior midfielder Casey ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR) fired the ball into the box, where multiple players went up for the header and knocked it back out. With the ball still in the air, senior midfielder Sergio Valencia (San Jose, CA) volleyed a rocket of a shot that found the back of the net through traffic for the 3-1 insurance goal.
Senior goalkeeper Josh Haskill (Lakewood, CA) stepped up this evening by making six nice saves to earn the victory. He gained support from a variety of defenders, including DeQuiroz, senior Ben Thompson (Spokane, WA), and junior Spencer Scott (Beaverton, OR).
The Bulldogs finished with a 21-7 advantage on shots.
Redlands (4-3-0, 4-0-0 SCIAC) travels to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges for a conference game on Wednesday, September 20, for a 7 p.m. start at Pritzlaff Field.
