UC Irvine’s Men’s Soccer (0-1-0) fell in their season opener against No. 4 Oregon State (1-0-0) 2-1 on Aug. 22, after attempting to mount a late game effort at Paul Lorenz Field.
The ‘Eaters are coming off of a successful season last year after winning a title in the Big West Conference. They look to build upon their 9-7-4 record and their first-round exit in the NCAA tournament last year, where they lost 4-2 to No. 25 LMU.
Oregon State showcased an extremely oppressive offense in the first half, as they seemed to never let go of the ball and controlled the pace of the game. The Anteaters were on their back foot for seemingly all 45 minutes of playing time. The Beavers let off a barrage of 10 shots to UCI’s zero, three of which were on target. However, the Anteaters did play good defense. Although the Beavers maintained possession of the ball, they couldn’t find many good scoring opportunities. Even when they did find an opportunity, the Beavers couldn’t convert.
The game went into the second half scoreless.
Around 10 minutes into the second half, the Beavers’ relentless offensive effort paid off when a long pass from outside the box to Beaver redshirt 2025 forward Ellis Spikner resulted in a goal and 1-0 lead for Oregon State.
UCI attempted to respond with only their second shot of the night by 2026 junior forward Agaton Pourshahidi, but the shot went out left. While the ‘Eaters had better control of the ball in the second half, the Beaver defense ensured that there were very few scoring opportunities to be found for UCI.
In the 83rd minute, a shot from way outside by Oregon redshirt senior midfielder Pere Belmonte struck true and the Beavers went up 2-0. This was Belmonte’s first career goal for Oregon State and it gave the Beavers a nigh insurmountable lead late in the second half.
The Anteaters refused to go quietly, as Pourshahidi scored his fifth career goal to make the score 2-1 and put UCI right back in it.
Ultimately the effort would be in vain, as Anteaters could not equalize and fell to Oregon State 2-1. Oregon’s offensive prowess was too much for the Anteaters to overcome, marked by a total of 15 shots taken to UCI’s three. Despite the loss, UCI redshirt senior goalkeeper Luke Pruter had an impressive showing — managing to save five of those shots.
The Anteaters look to regroup for their home opener against No. 14 Vermont at Anteater Stadium at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29.
Ved Patil is a Sports Intern for the summer 2024 quarter. He can be reached at patilv2@uci.edu.
Edited by Jack Fedor.
