Four First-Half Goals Lift Redlands Men's Soccer to SCIAC Victory over Caltech

Derrin Valeri moves the ball
Photo credit: Sam Keary

The University of Redlands men's soccer team toppled the Beavers of Caltech, 4-0, in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action during a rare Friday afternoon contest in Pasadena. The Bulldogs utilized most of its roster while gaining scores from four different players to secure their fourth consecutive victory.

In a five-minute span early in the first half, the Bulldogs applied three shots, with two of them being on frame. It took one more attempt for the Maroon and Gray to make its way on the scoreboard in the 22nd minute when sophomore midfielder Collin ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR) smashed one into the lower-left corner of the net off of senior defender Nick DeQuiroz's (San Jose, CA) assist. Shortly after, senior midfielder Arman Mogharei (Hayward, CA) sent a direct pass to first-year forward Steve Acuña (Pico Rivera, CA), who only needed one touch to score the second goal of the match in the 25th minute.

With a comfortable lead, Redlands made a bevy of substitutions but still yielded the same results. Right before his exit from the field, junior forward Antonio Chavez (Santa Ana, CA) knocked in his first career goal as a Bulldog off a perfect slip-pass from first-year midfielder Jonathan Cheung (Hong Kong, China) down the left side of the attacking third. Chavez collected the ball in the box and let loose on a shot that hit the mark at the far post for the 3-0 advantage.

Ten minutes after the Bulldogs refreshed the lineup again, sophomore midfielder Derrin Valeri (Atlanta, GA) continued the avalanche of goals. Following Redlands' eight precise passes that moved the ball downfield, Valeri capped off the fruitful build-up with a goal in the 35th minute of action, which came off junior defender Oswaldo Magallanes' (Juneau, AK) assist.

Following the dominant first half, the Maroon and Gray cruised to a shutout with stellar defense throughout the second frame. The Bulldog goalkeepers shared time between the posts, with three logging more than 20 minutes apiece. Junior Noah Natividad (San Diego, CA) contributed the most minutes with 32 while only being forced to make one save. Classmate Emilio Raby-Newsom (Chicago, IL) also recorded a save, while sophomore Matteo Defina (Livermore, CA) kept a clean sheet with no attempts on goal as the Maroon and Gray's starter.

Furthermore, the Bulldogs played suffocating defense for the duration of the match and allowed only three shots by the Beavers. Among others, the talents of Magallanes, junior Toshi Kosins (Tokyo, Japan), sophomore Mikey Flota (West Covina, CA), and first-year Peyton Menti (Seattle, WA) took care of business to preserve the complete-game shutout.

Redlands strives to continue its run on Wednesday, September 19, when it hosts the University of La Verne at 7 p.m. on Farquhar Field.