Box Score The University of Redlands men's soccer team started its 2012 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) campaign right where it left off in 2011 with a solid victory. Scoring two goals in both halves, Redlands took advantage of its depth and enjoyed big performances from numerous players in the 4-1 win over Occidental College on Monday at Farquhar Field.
It was a historic evening as the win marked Head Coach Ralph Perez's 100th career victory at the helm of the Bulldogs. In just his seventh campaign with Redlands, he reached the impressive century mark and owns a 100-25-10 overall record during his time with the Maroon and Gray. Perez, to go along with a long list of accomplishments during his coaching career, was most recently honored with the Walt Chyzowych Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2012. The award is the most prestigious a soccer coach can receive in the United States.
On a night that saw the Bulldogs don their all-white uniforms, junior defender Evan Keny-Guyer (Portland, OR) got things rolling for the Maroon and Gray when he recorded his first goal of the season in the 23rd minute. Senior midfielder Gabe Ramirez (Pasadena, CA) whipped in a corner from the left side to senior forward Noah Prudhomme (San Anselmo, CA), who flicked the cross to Keny-Guyer for the powerful header.
Not long afterwards, freshman forward AJ VanderStaay (Bellingham, WA) made the most of his first appearance in a Bulldog uniform by slotting home his inaugural goal off an assist from rookie midfielder Gustavo Orozco (San Rafael, CA) in the 35th minute.
Watch VanderStaay's goal.
The Tigers answered with their only score about 15 minutes into the second half as senior Reid Sakamoto (Honolulu, HI) found the back of the net.
But Ramirez halted any momentum that Occidental had created by ripping a shot from just outside of the 18-yard box off the left post and in.
Up 3-1, the U of R kept applying pressure and put one more on the board for good measure as freshman midfielder Peter Marsden (Woodside, CA) blasted one into the top-left corner from 23 yards out.
On the night, the Bulldogs out-shot the Tigers, 22-17, in addition to owning more shots-on-goal with 13 in all.
Junior goalkeeper Andreas Silva (San Jose, CA) put in 90 minutes of work for the Maroon and Gray, picking up his first win of the year while tallying six saves in the process. He stepped up with a critical stop early in the game to keep the score at 0-0.
Redlands (1-1-0, 1-0-0) looks to build upon this strong performance on Wednesday night when it hosts the Beavers of Caltech in a 7 p.m. SCIAC contest.
