LA VERNE, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Soccer team pulled out a tough, physical 2-1 victory over the University of La Verne Wednesday night on the road.
With the win the Bulldogs have now won four in a row and improve to 10-1-1, 6-1-1 SCIAC and have now jumped into first place within the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Standings moving ahead of Occidental College by two points.
The game was decided in the final two minutes of the second half with the Bulldogs burying a PK at the 88:37 mark by Spencer Palmer (San Diego, CA) followed by a game-winning goal by Julian Weber (Haiku, HI) with :28 seconds left.
Redlands came out strong in the opening 45:00 minutes outshooting ULV 10-1 and forcing the Leos into four save opportunities. Phillip Kostenko (Redmond, WA) took the first two shots for the U of R, which missed wide and that was followed by Gabriel Martinez (San Jose, CA) who unloaded on a shot bottom right corner of the goal forcing a stop. In the 30th minute Yusef Mayet (Redondo Beach, CA) earned a look that missed high and a minute later Anders Beckton (Seattle, WA) would take his first two shots of the game, which both missed wide. Over the final seven minutes of the first half Redlands took another three shots that were all on frame taken by Palmer (2) and Connor Claborn (Santa Clarita, CA), but the score remained scoreless at the break.
The second half proved very physical and was tight with UR holding a slight edge on shots 9-8, while each team gathered three corner kicks. Redlands kept their offensive attack moving with Beckton and Martinez forcing the first two saves in the second half from the ULV keeper. But it would be La Verne who would go ahead in the 73rd minute with a goal from Owen Osagiede. This lead would hold until the final two minutes when the Bulldogs earned a penalty kick due to a handball being called in the box. Palmer would step up and finish the PK tying the game up at the 88:37 mark.
But Redlands was not done there as they would come down with :28 seconds to play getting a long ball sent up to Cody Bell on the wing who would cross it to Weber who would take a touch off his chest before bending a finish to the upper-90 for the game-winner.
The Maroon and Grey outshot La Verne 19-9 with nine shots on goal. They also held the advantage on corner kicks 8-2. Seth Lawrence (Redlands, CA) played all 90:00 minutes and finished with three saves.
Redlands has the weekend off from competition with their annual Alumni Game taking place on Saturday, October 14 beginning at 1:30pm. The Bulldogs will return home to Farquhar Field next Wednesday, October 18 at 7:00pm when they host the University of La Verne for the second time within a week.
