The University of Redlands men's soccer team earned a scoreless draw against the University of St. Thomas (MN) on Sunday in a hard-fought, non-conference matchup on Farquhar Field.
Early in the game, first-year forward Ethan Kovach (Las Vegas, NV) broke down his defender to create a one-on-one opportunity with the Tommies' goalkeeper. He was rewarded with a solid shot attempt, but it bounced off the right post. A couple of minutes later, senior midfielder Dylan Carlyle (Ottawa, CAN) launched a shot from just outside the box that nearly slipped out of the hands of the St. Thomas goalkeeper and into the net.
On the other end of the field, the Tommies worked to capitalize on a throw-in that landed in a scrum in front of the box. After the ball touched several players, senior goalkeeper Noah Natividad (San Diego, CA) jumped on the ball to avoid further danger.
The Bulldogs almost connected on one more attack when first-year forward Jackson Fox (Kirkland, WA) headed the ball towards the goal, but it curved away from the net for a wide-left result.
Defensively, sophomore defender Peyton Menti (Seattle, WA) halted a quality run by the Tommies when he wrestled the ball away in the 43rd minute.
In the second half, Kovach worked for another good look on goal in the 56th minute but the shot was knocked out of bounds.
The Tommies proceeded to take the next six shots with all but one landing on net for Natividad to corral.
As time wound down, the momentum began to shift in favor of the Bulldogs as they garnered the final seven shots of regulation. The most dangerous attack came in the 87th minute off a corner-kick feed from sophomore forward Steve Acuña (Pico Rivera, CA) that led to header attempts from Menti and Kovach in close succession that just missed the mark.
Nonetheless, the Maroon and Gray defense continued to lean on Menti, who made a tactical slide tackle and then cleared the ball to stomp the Tommies' offense deep into the second half.
Despite four Redlands shots in the final two minutes of regulation, the clock expired without a victor, resulting in overtime.
After only seeing one opportunity in the first extra period, the teams battled it out in a second overtime. The Bulldogs' strongest chance took place in the 107th minute on a lob feed into the box from senior midfielder Matias Lazo-Fanning (Seattle, WA) to sophomore midfielder Avery Jacobson (Seattle, WA). He leapt to head the ball on goal, but the Tommies goalkeeper used his length to make the stop.
On the defensive side, the back line of Carlyle, Menti, senior defender Oswaldo Magallanes (Juneau, AK), and junior defender Mikey Flota (West Covina, CA) locked down the Tommies in the final minutes, leaving the game in a scoreless stalemate.
The Bulldogs proved to be the aggressor with a 17-8 shot advantage, while both teams earned six corner kicks.
Redlands (0-2-1) remains at home to take on Occidental College in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) opener on Wednesday, September 18, at 7 p.m.