Newspaper Soccer

October 13, 2013

Aggies 2 – Highlanders 0

After a strong start to their season, the UC Riverside men’s soccer team continues to run into obstacles, losing five of their last six matches, including a 2-0 loss to the UC Davis Aggies on the road Sunday night.

UCR struggled mightily on offense throughout the first half, with the Aggie offense outshooting them 10-2. Eventually, UC Davis earned the first score of the game in the 14th minute, when the Aggies’ Alex Henry and Ryan Gross found Matt Wiesenfarth for his third goal of the season and the only goal of the first half.

The Highlanders came out of the break firing on all cylinders, outshooting the Davis offense 9-6 and seemingly regaining the momentum. However, Matt Sheldon quickly put an end to any comeback attempt when he earned his fourth goal of the season in the 60th minute and put his team up 2-0.

In the 87th minute, insult was added to injury when the Highlanders scored an apparent goal to cut the lead to 2-1, only to be wiped out by an offsides call on UCR. The Highlanders had one last shot to put a score on the board with a corner kick in the final seconds of the game, but Aggie goalkeeper Armando Quezada was able to make the save and give his team a shutout victory over UCR.

With the loss, the Highlanders fall to 6-5-2 on the season, including 1-3-0 in Big West play.

October 19, 2013

Highlanders 0 – Matadors 0

The UC Riverside men’s soccer team hosted the sixth-ranked Cal State Northridge squad in hopes of achieving a statement win and regaining momentum in a season where things are quickly headed south.

In what proved to be a true back-and-forth battle, the Highlanders outshot the Matadors 16-15, though Cal State Northridge had three more shots on goal. UCR goalkeeper Ashkan Khosravi, just two weeks removed from an injury that kept him out for half of the season, played his best game of the season against the Matadors, registering a clean sheet with eight saves and no goals against him.

Cal State Northridge caught a break in the 30th minute, as Romario Lomeli fired a header that hit the crossbar and found itself just wide of the net. Lomeli’s shot proved to be the closest either team would get to scoring for the rest of the game.

UCR Head Coach Tim Cupello expressed the need for his team to “become a little more efficient in the attacking phase of the field, we’ve created a lot of opportunities and we don’t always put the goal in the back of the net … if we can do a better job of finishing chances we’ll have a better chance of seeing the results we want.”

Next up for the Highlanders is a trip to Irvine to face off against the UCI Anteaters on Wednesday, Oct. 26.