Box Score On Saturday evening, the University of Redlands men's soccer program finished out its regular season in style, beating the Poets of Whittier College in overtime, 2-1. Senior forward Alex Laughton (Pleasanton, CA) scored the game-winner in the fifth minute of the first-overtime period, giving the Bulldogs the dramatic one-goal triumph.
With the victory, the Bulldogs finish in second place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) regular-season standings.
After a scoreless first half, the Poets were the first to get onto the scoreboard when Francis Maxwell scored in the 59th minute.
However, Redlands responded not long after when junior midfielder Will Walker (Folsom, CA) whipped a free kick into the Poets' 18-yard box. After a poor clearance from a Whittier defender, sophomore forward Charles Izydorek (Redlands, CA) volleyed the ball out of the air, off the right post and into the back of the net, tying the game at one.
Bulldog junior goalkeeper Andreas Silva (San Jose, CA) came up huge, late in regulation, when he made a diving stop to keep the Poets at bay. On the same sequence, the ball was deflected and saved off of the line by the Bulldogs' defense, who stepped up time and time again on the evening to shut down the Whittier attack.
With the score tied at the end of regulation, the two teams headed to overtime. After the Poets cleared a Bulldog corner kick, freshman midfielder Peter Marsden (Woodside, CA) did a fantastic job of getting a touch on the ball, not allowing Whittier to counterattack. Junior defender Brad Jackson (Medina, WA) then played a long ball forward to Walker who flicked it to Laughton. With only one defender to beat, Laughton used one move, went past the Poet defender and ripped a left-footed shot into the lower-right corner of the net. For Laughton, it was his second game-winning goal of the season.
Via the second-place finish in the conference standings, Redlands (12-5-3, 11-3-2) earned the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament. The Bulldogs will host the No. 3 seed, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, in a semifinal match on Thursday. Kickoff at Farquhar Field is scheduled for 7 p.m.
