Redlands Men’s Soccer Secures spot in SCIAC Championship Game; Coach Perez earns 400th Win

Redlands Men’s Soccer Secures spot in SCIAC Championship Game; Coach Perez earns 400th Win

REDLANDS, Calif. – University of Redlands Head Men's Soccer Coach Ralph Perez collected his 400th career men's soccer victory Wednesday night as the Maroon and Grey opened the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament with a 2-0 shutout over No. 3 California Lutheran University.

With the win, the Bulldogs now face the top-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags on the road this Saturday, November 6, beginning at 7:00pm.  The Stags needed OT to beat No. 4 Chapman University, 2-1, in the other semifinal.  The previous time the Bulldogs and Stags faced off was back in the SCIAC Opener on September 15, when UR fell 2-1 on a penalty kick. 

U of R keeps their winning streak intact at five in a row, have won nine of their last ten, and improve to 14-2-1, 9-2-1 SCIAC.  They are currently in their 13th SCIAC Postseason Tournament and seeking their fifth SCIAC Tournament Title. 

In front of a capacity crowd at Farquhar Field, the Bulldogs provided two first-half goals, which proved enough to pull off the semifinal victory.  After two quick shots from Cal Lutheran that opened the game up, UR then settled in and found their niche by getting on the scoreboard in the 19th minute with a Collin ChubbFertal (Eugene, OR) goal.  A ball was played to Avery Jacobson (Seattle, WA) at the top of the box, which he tried to one-time out of the air but to no avail.  The ball deflected off of a CLU defender right to ChubbFertal, who unleashed a strike off the hands of Kingsmen keeper Ivan Lumbrano for the eventual game-winner.  He now has 26 career goals, trailing his older brother Casey by two (28).

Later in the half, UR added insurance, this time from senior Peyton Menti (Seattle, WA), who connected off of a set piece from Spencer Palmer (San Diego, CA).  Palmer sent in a kick from the wing that found the back of Menti, who had turned in the air towards the goal.  The deflection had enough pace on it to get past Lumbrano, giving Redlands a 2-0 lead at the break.

Cal Lutheran tried to use some second-half counterattacks and deep balls to create some offense late in the game but only gathered four shots in the period, as the Bulldog defensive unit stood tough and limited opportunities to preserve their seventh shutout on the season.  

Redlands outshot Cal Lutheran 8-7 on the night and held the slight 2-1 advantage on corner kicks.  Seth Lawrence (Redlands, CA) played all 90:00 minutes between the posts, picking up his ninth win on the season, as he needed just one save to do so.