No. 16 Redlands Men's Soccer Clinches SCIAC Regular-Season Title with 1-0 Win over Pomona-Pitzer

No. 16 Redlands Men's Soccer Clinches SCIAC Regular-Season Title with 1-0 Win over Pomona-Pitzer

The No. 16 University of Redlands men's soccer team hosted the Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens in an important Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) showdown on Wednesday night on Farquhar Field. The Bulldogs got up early in the first half and never looked back en route to winning their fourth-consecutive, regular-season title.

Redlands got things rolling quickly, as senior forward Chase Boone (Beaverton, OR) and senior midfielder Alexander Knox (Seattle, WA) uncorked a shot each within the first 10 minutes of play.

On Redlands' second corner kick of the evening, sophomore defender Dylan Carlyle (San Jose, CA) served a nice, high ball into the box, which the Sagehens tried to clear but instead sent the ball straight to senior midfielder Sergio Valencia (San Jose, CA). After he quickly settled the ball, Valencia blasted it through traffic from 30 yards out to find the back of the net for the 1-0 Bulldog advantage and eventual game-winner just 13:05 into the game.

About 15 minutes later, junior defender Joey Kenney (Portland, OR) headed a shot towards goal but it hit the right post. Freshman midfielder Collin ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR) also added a rocket of a shot that sailed just high.

Senior goalkeeper Josh Haskill (Lakewood, CA) was tested twice in the first stanza but made two nice saves to keep Pomona-Pitzer off the board.

The Sagehen offense turned it up in the second half, but thanks to the defensive efforts of Kenney, Carlyle, senior Ben Thompson (Spokane, WA), and sophomore Matias Lazo-Fanning (Seattle, WA), many of the visiting team's shots were blocked.

Carlyle and Lazo-Fanning consistently worked the ball up the sidelines on counterattacks and served up quality opportunities for the Bulldogs. Sophomore forward Kayvon Parsa (West Hills, CA) took a shot in the 60th minute but it found the right post and ricocheted out.  Kenney had another quality chance late in the game that nearly mirrored Valencia's early goal, but the Sagehen goalkeeper extended his reach to knock it over the crossbar for the save.

When the whistle sounded, the Bulldogs maintained their clean-sheet victory for their 15th regular-season title in program history, the ninth under Head Coach Ralph Perez, and the fourth-consecutive for this class of talented seniors.

Redlands (12-3-2, 11-0-2 SCIAC) will celebrate its seniors prior to taking on Occidental College on Saturday, October 28, at 1 p.m. on Farquhar Field.