Oct. 6, 2010

Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. - The ninth-ranked UC Irvine men's soccer team scored three goals in a 10 minute span to top UC Davis 3-0 in a Big West Conference matchup at Aggie Stadium in Davis, Calif.

The loss, UC Davis' sixth straight, moves the Aggies to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in league play. UC Irvine improves to 9-1-1 overall and is now 2-0 in conference action.

The first half was a stalemate as neither team was able to get a shot off until the 14th minute when UC Davis' Mustafa Chopan fired an attempt that was blocked by a UC Irvine defender. Midway through the half, Jacob Barron's shot at the 27:41 mark was also blocked while a header from Jason Santos went wide just three minutes later.

The Anteaters nearly had a goal at the 37th minute when Christian Hernandez' corner kick found Joel Bagby, but Bagby's header hit the crossbar and ricocheted back. Corey Attaway's one-touch off the rebound was wide, however, and the game would remain scoreless through the rest of the half.

UC Irvine only attempted four shots while UC Davis had only three tries through the first 45 minutes.

As the second half began, both teams turned up the offensive intensity, but UC Irvine would find the back of the net first at the 60:46 mark. After dribbling through several Aggie defenders, Miguel Ibarra blasted a shot towards freshman goalkeeper Omar Zeenni, who made an impressive deflection. The rebound, however, found a waiting Spencer Thompson who one-touched a shot past Zeenni and into the goal to give the Anteaters a 1-0 advantage.

Thompson would assist on UC Irvine's next goal only seven minutes later as he dribbled down the right sideline, then sent across along the ground into the middle of the penalty area. Amani Walker received the cross and sent a shot past Zeenni into the lower left corner of the goal.

UC Davis would be forced to play shorthanded after freshman Nick Grigoriev was shown a red card and sent off in the 68th minute.

UC Irvine kept their momentum going with another goal two minutes later. In the 69th minute, Zeenni came off his line to intercept a long throw-in from Jimmy Butler, but fumbled his catch and a waiting Gray Bailey was there to tap in a shot.

The Anteaters recorded 11 second half shots while the Aggies posted four.

Zeenni finished with three saves in 90 minutes of action.

Joslin led the Aggies offensively with two shots while five other UC Davis players had one shot apiece. Ibarra and Thompson had three shots each for UC Irvine and Walker finished with two attempts.

UC Davis travels to face Cal State Northridge Saturday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. at Matador Field.