REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Soccer team celebrated their 10 seniors Wednesday night before shutting out the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer 1-0 inside Farquhar Field.
The Maroon and Grey wrapped up their regular season posting a 13-2-1, 9-2-1 SCIAC record and finished off October going 7-1 and have now gone 10-1-1 over their last twelve games.
With the win against the Sagehens, the Bulldogs have locked in the No. 2 seed for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament and will now host one of two semi-finals next Wednesday, November 3 beginning at 7:00pm.
Prior to the game Head Coach Ralph Perez recognized his ten seniors, which included Mikey Flota (West Covina, CA), Peyton Menti (Seattle, WA), Arian Mogharei (Hayward, CA), Avery Jacobson (Seattle, WA), Steve Acuña (Pico Rivera, CA), Antonio Chavez (Santa Ana, CA), Paetin Nelson (Portland, OR), Collin ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR), Cayden Nelson (Layton, UT), and Jonathan Cheung (Hong Kong, China).
It was a slow start to the game with just seven shots being taken in the first half. ChubbFertal had the first look in the 21st minute with a header on frame, which forced Sagehen keeper Jonathan Rushton to make a save to his left. UR then earned a trio of corner kicks all taken by Acuña. Off of those services, ChubbFertal had a look that was blocked and Flota made another connection, which was again stopped by Rushton.
The final look on the half was off the foot of Brendan Kish in the 42nd minute for Pomona-Pitzer who was able to force Bulldog keeper Seth Lawrence (Redlands, CA) off his line into a save opportunity that kept the game scoreless at the break.
Some adjustments were made by UR at the half and it showed as they came out pressing high right from the get go. Spencer Palmer (San Diego, CA) got off three shots in the first two minutes, all of which were off the mark. David Johnson (Monrovia, CA) got off another, which missed wide left and Acuña got off the last look, which was blocked. Following a trio of subs, which included Joseph Parra (West Covina, CA) coming in as a wing the Bulldogs found the spark they needed as Parra chased down a pass on the far side before sending in a cross back post that found the head of ChubbFertal who finished.
This increased the intensity over the final 25:00 minutes with the Sagehens frantically trying to create opportunities. They got off two great looks in the 80th and 83rd minutes, but both were saved by Lawrence. Then the final two looks came with three minutes to play as Matthew Carlson took a strike for PP that forced Lawrence to punch the shot out awarding the Sagehens a corner. On the ensuing kick, Pomona-Pitzer earned a foul on top of the box and Graeme Logan would connect hitting the crossbar that was then cleared allowing UR to hold on for the victory.
Redlands held the advantage on shots 13-10 and had the edge on corner kicks 6-2, which included five coming in the first half. Lawrence picked up the shutout between the posts playing all 90:00 minutes and totaling five saves. ChubbFertal led the offense with four shots, two on goal, Palmer unloaded on three, and six other players had one shot apiece.
Redlands has the weekend off before returning next week on Wednesday, November 3 for the SCIAC Tournament. They await their opponent but will be hosting as the No. 2 seed beginning at 7:00pm.
