Redlands Men’s Soccer holds on for 2-1 victory over Occidental

Image credit: Kylie Calabrese-Kenny
Image credit: Kylie Calabrese-Kenny

REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Soccer team held on for a 2-1 victory over Occidental College Wednesday night, coming away with their second conference victory of the season and first win on Farquhar Field.

Redlands improves to 2-1-3, 2-0-1 SCIAC, while Occidental drops to 4-2-1, 1-1-1 SCIAC.  It was a battle between two of the top teams within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) and, despite being outshot 19-10, which included being at a 14-5 disadvantage in the second half, the Bulldogs held on for the one-goal victory.

The Maroon and Grey started off quickly with a pair of shots coming in the first twenty minutes.  Quinn Richards (San Clemente, CA) had the first, which was blocked inside the box and Andrew Torres (Oceanside, CA) took the second, which was stopped by Oxy keeper Owen Carter.  The third time was the charm though for UR as Ethan Kovach (Las Vegas, NV) moved past the back line in the 21st minute before cutting inside and finding space on top of the 18.  This gave him an opening, allowing him to unleash a strike that flew past Carter to put the Bulldogs on top 1-0.

Over the next twenty minutes, the defensive units stood strong, allowing a combined three shots and two corner kicks.  The Bulldogs found some luck in the 42nd minute off the foot of senior Torres, who stretched the lead to two when he sent in a pass attempt from the wing into the box.  A Tiger defender dove to their right to head the ball out, but he missed it completely, causing confusion for Carter between the posts.  He took his eyes off the ball for a second and the shot floated past him to the bottom left corner of the goal for the eventual game-winner.

This lead held until the 53rd minute when the Tigers cut the deficit in half from Andrew Notter who beat his defender before sending a shot past Seth Lawrence (Redlands, CA) to the bottom left corner of the goal.  This did not change the game plan by the Bulldog though as they continued to pressure looking to add insurance.  Joseph Parra (West Covina, CA) immediately responded with a shot that went high over the crossbar and Skylar Darwen (Los Angeles, CA) would force Carter into a save opportunity soon after.

The last two looks for UR came from Peyton Menti (Seattle, WA) who sent a header high over the crossbar in the 76th minute and Parra with another look in the 83rd minute that went high off his left.  After that it was all Oxy who sent a barrage of attacks on goal over the final five minutes.  During that span they accumulated three corner kicks and seven shots.  Within the first minute the Tigers had three looks, all on goal, but Lawrence stopped all three.  The last attempt on frame came at the 87:22 mark when Notter looked to get his second of the game, but his attempt forced Lawrence to make the save of the year to his left up in the air that allowed Redlands to come away with the victory.

Redlands held the edge on corner kicks 6-4, while Lawrence recorded six saves between the posts, all-coming in the second half.  Parra took three shots for the game, while Torres added another two.        

Redlands now travels this Saturday, September 24 when they go up to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on California Lutheran University beginning at 7:30pm.