REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Soccer team opens up the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament as the No. 1 seed tonight, Thursday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. when they host No. 5 Chapman University at Farquhar Field.
The Bulldogs won the regular season title by a point over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) with 26 points on an 8-2-2 SCIAC record. The Panthers came into the tournament as the fifth and final team to qualify after finishing tied for fourth with California Lutheran University (CLU) after taking 15 points on a 4-5-3 record. Redlands has now won the SCIAC Regular Season Title for the 10th time under Head Coach Ralph Perez and the 16th overall in program history. They are also seeking their sixth SCIAC Tournament Title and fourteenth appearance in the NCAA Division III National Championships.
The Panthers made the SCIAC Tournament Semifinal by beating the Kingsmen 2-1 on the road in the opening round game on Tuesday. Chapman conceded the lead in the 40th minute before tying it :27 seconds into the second half. They then won it in the 56th minute.
Redlands is led by seven All-SCIAC performers, the most since 2019 when they also had seven honorees. The group includes Phillip Kostenko (Redmond, WA), Owen Jamieson (Danville, CA), Brady Bachman (San Diego, CA), Bo Robertson (Portland, OR), Cody Bell (Highland, CA), and Anders Beckton (Seattle, WA) on the 1st Team and Connor Claborn (Santa Clarita, CA) landing on the 2nd Team. Kostenko and Jamieson were also voted the SCIAC Offensive and Defensive Athletes of the Year. Ralph Perez, Cody Carlson, and Gio Napoletano were also named the SCIAC Coaching Staff of the Year.
Chapman had two members to earn All-SCIAC recognition, which included 1st Team defender Jackson Busby and goalkeeper Alex Glynn who landed on the 2nd Team.
In SCIAC play the Bulldogs led the conference in goals scored and fewest goals allowed with 32 and 10, respectively. The next highest scoring team was No. 3 Occidental College. The Tigers and Panthers were also the next stingiest defenses, allowing only 15 goals.
Kostenko tied for a conference-high with seven goals scored, tied for third with two game-winning goals, tied for second with seven assists, and was the leader in points with 21.
Beckton tied for eighth with five goals thanks to 22 shots on target, which was the second most. He also led the SCIAC with eight assists for a point total of 18, which was the third highest.
Claborn had a sneaky four goals from his midfield role, two of those were game-winners. Next to him in the midfield Zach Darmanyan (San Diego, CA) had four assists in 11 games, tying him for the fifth most.
On the other side Chapman was the second best defense in the conference allowing only 1.25 goals per game, but their .667 goals per game scored was the lowest by .416 goals.
Offensively they are led by Jonah Friang and Reed Leidlein who both scored twice in conference play.
Their defense was led by the stellar play of Glynn in goal who had the second lowest goal against average at 1.134, was second in shutouts per game at .333, first in save percentage at .787, and only needed to make four saves per game, which was the sixth most.
The winner of this semifinal plays either No. 2 Claremont-M-S or No. 3 Occidental College at the site of the highest remaining seed on Saturday, November 9, with the time to be determined.
