The University of Redlands men’s soccer team hosted the
First Round of the 2007 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championships
tonight and came away with an exciting 2-0 win over regional rival
UC Santa Cruz in front of 473 fans.
Despite solid play and offensive opportunities by both teams, the
game remained scoreless at the end of the first half. Then, senior
midfielder Max Bowman (Pa’auilo, HI) found the net on two
occasions in an eight-minute span to lift the Bulldogs past the
Banana Slugs. First, senior defender Chase Meador (Claremont, CA)
drove a long ball to the far right side of the field and found
Bowman, who blasted it into the near side of the net. At the start
of the 72nd minute, Bowman took control of the ball, dribbling it
past the Santa Cruz defenders, and beat the oncoming goalkeeper
with a well-struck ball.
Overall, Redlands tallied 18 shots, including eight on target,
while Santa Cruz earned 10 shots with seven on goal. Senior
goalkeeper Andy Roraff (Highland, CA) provided seven saves to
preserve the shutout for Redlands.
The Bulldogs improve to 18-3 while UCSC falls to 15-5. Redlands
moves onto the Second Round of the NCAA Championships and faces
Emory University on Saturday, November 10.
