UCI Men’s Soccer (1-10-1) fell to the UC Davis Aggies (2-6-3) 0-1 on Wednesday, Oct. 5 in an away match where both teams were desperate to find good form for the stretch of Big West Conference games ahead.
In a somewhat sloppy and disorganized match, freshman midfielder/defender Zack Lillington’s rebound of his own header was the lone score of the night, handing the Aggies their first conference win.
Both UCI and UC Davis entered the match with one win apiece, with UCI’s win coming from their conference opener against Cal State Fullerton late last month. UCI leading scorer Agaton Pourshahidi started on the bench for this match.
This match was the return of graduate student forward Robert Mejia, who transferred from UC Davis to UCI for this season to pursue a graduate program.
UC Davis junior striker Ethan Hoard posed an obstacle for the Anteaters, due to his ability to create chances for UC Davis and get in behind the defense, which was the focus of the Aggies’ attack. Hoard created the first chance of the game when he whipped in a cross that no Aggie was able to make any clean contact with.
The Aggies’ best chance of the first half came in minute 22 when Hoard headed in a cross low, where Anteater sophomore goalkeeper Luke Pruter made a great save by quickly getting to the ground.
The Anteaters’ best chance came just 10 minutes later when UCD’s redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Charles Janssen batted away a shot from sophomore midfielder Francesco Montanile. The ball landed at the feet of sophomore forward Jake Means, who slotted away the rebound. The goal was then unluckily called back because Means was in an offside position.
The match was very scrappy in the first half with 15 fouls being called, yet the referee decided that none of the fouls were worthy enough of a card.
The Aggies enjoyed possession of the ball for the majority of the match, especially in the second half where UCI seemed to sit back, trying to counterattack through Mejia’s dribbling.
The Anteaters made many subs at the half. Most notably, leading goal scorer Pourshahidi was slotted into the attack. Even with this change, UCI played more reserved for most of the second half. The ball was in the Anteaters’ half of the field for the majority of the last 45 minutes, where the Aggies played in many crosses and corners, which Pruter was able to catch and collect most of.
It was a test of bend, not break for the Anteater defense as the Aggies kept getting the ball to Hoard, either in stride or with his back to the goal. UCI sophomore defender Mathias Winum went down and had to be evaluated by medical staff twice, but still continued on resiliently.
The Aggies had a potential penalty in the 63rd minute when UCI senior midfielder Ashish Chattha made strong shoulder to shoulder contact with Horde in the box. The UC Davis players and coaches complained but the referee deemed it to be a tough, but fair challenge.
UCI couldn’t really get anything going offensively as they managed just one shot on goal for the whole game, while the UC Davis chances were much more clear cut and their persistence paid off in the 82nd minute. A sharp cross by junior defender/midfielder Ryan Dieter met the head of Lillington, which hit the post but came right back to his feet, where he had an open shot on goal. The UC Davis bench cleared for the celebration, showing just how much this match meant for both teams, who both have struggled for consistency.
After the goal, UCI woke up and tried to get an equalizer, but it was too little too late, as the Aggies were more than content to sit back and let the clock run out.
The final whistle blew as the Anteaters had a corner kick. They went home with a record of (1-10-1). The Aggies picked up their first conference win as they moved to (2-6-3) on the year.
Miguel Rodriguez is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. He can be reached at miguer9@uci.edu.