No. 19 Redlands Men's Soccer Battles Back to 2-2 Draw with La Verne

Photo credit: Sam Keary
Photo credit: Sam Keary

The No. 19 University of Redlands men's soccer team traveled to University of La Verne to take on the Leopards in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) showdown. Despite being down 0-2 and playing a man down for 75 minutes, the Bulldogs showed tremendous heart and determination to battle back and walk away with a double-overtime, 2-2 draw.

Although the Maroon and Gray outshot the Leopards, 5-1, in the first 10 minutes of action, La Verne sent one through the posts in the 13th minute to put the Bulldogs in an early hole.

Redlands continued to pour on the shots, as senior forward Chase Boone (Beaverton, OR) and junior defender Joey Kenney (Portland, OR) each had two looks towards goal among the 14 total attempts in the first stanza, as compared to La Verne's two.

Early in the second half, the Bulldogs committed a foul in the box that resulted in a penalty kick and forced Redlands to play a man down the rest of the game.

Now trailing by two goals, the Bulldogs needed to dig deep to pull off the comeback. On a counterattack, sophomore forward Antony Chonga (San Diego, CA) found himself in the middle of a scramble in front of the goal. He managed to find the ball and poke it past the goalkeeper, cutting Redlands' deficit in half.

With a newfound energy, the Bulldogs earned a great opportunity on a set piece, when senior forward Cameron Doody (Arvada, CO) arched a beautifully-placed ball towards goal for senior midfielder Casey ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR), who put it through the posts for the 2-2 equalizer in the 72nd minute.  

ChubbFertal continued to press by taking two more shots on goal before the buzzer signified the end of regulation.

The opponents battled through the first 10 minutes of overtime, but the score remained at a 2-2 stalemate, which forced a second overtime.

With persistence and skill, Chonga owned the second overtime period with two shots on goal, but the La Verne goalkeeper made the necessary stops to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

Despite being a man down, Redlands' defensive unit of senior Ben Thompson (Spokane, WA), and sophomores Dylan Carlyle (San Jose, CA) and Matias Lazo-Fanning (Seattle, WA) played phenomenally well to keep La Verne's scoring chances to a minimum.

Statistically, the Bulldogs outplayed the Leopards with a 27-7 shot margin. Chonga had six looks towards goal, with five going on-frame.

Redlands (9-3-1, 8-0-1 SCIAC) returns to action on Saturday, October 14, at 7 p.m. when it hosts Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in another important conference match on Farquhar Field.