Follow UC Davis: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
Watch UC Davis' Postgame Press Conference |
Photo Gallery (Mark Honbo, UC Davis Athletics)
DAVIS, Calif. — For the third consecutive season, the UC Davis men's soccer team was playing in the championship match of the Big West Conference Tournament, twice denied a trip to the postseason on penalty kicks.
On Friday afternoon, in front of a raucous standing-room only crowd of 1,308 fans at Aggie Soccer Field (a new record), the Aggies would not be denied a third time.
Sophomore
Andy Velasquez broke a scoreless tie with the game-winner in the 55th minute and senior
Kristian Heptner added an empty net score off a feed from Tournament Most Valuable Player
Adam Mickelson with 15 seconds remaining in regulation, lifting top-seeded and host UC Davis to a 2-0 shutout of second-seeded UC Santa Barbara to claim its first Big West Tournament crown.
The Aggies — now 7-0-1 at home this year — improved to 13-4-2 overall and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2007 and 2008 squads made back-to-back appearances in the program's first two years at the Division I level.
Also the league's regular season champion, UC Davis will discover their postseason assignment when the NCAA announces its field of 48 teams at 10 a.m. on Monday (Nov. 18), streamed live at NCAA.com. The opening round of the NCAA Tournament begins on Thursday (Nov. 21) at selected campus sites.
"As everybody knows, we have been to three consecutive finals. We never lost one, we just did not advance because of penalty kicks," said head coach Dwayne Shaffer. "I am proud of this team and all of the student-athletes because they do everything right. We play hard, we are a very good team, and all credit goes to the players. All I do is stay out of their way, let them do what they do best, and it worked out well for us today.
"Every year I coached at UC Davis has been enjoyable, but this season ranks up there at the top right now because we have a great program, and the tournament format did not fall our way a lot of the time. Today, it did."
Limited to just four shots on the afternoon, the Gauchos finished the regular season with a 12-4-4 overall record and will await the decision of the NCAA Tournament committee as to a possible at-large berth.
In a match that featured 36 combined fouls and seven yellow cards between the two teams, the Aggies and Gauchos played to scoreless draw through the first 45 minutes — despite an 8-1 advantage in the shot column by homestanding UC Davis.
The Aggies continued to pressure to start the second half and it finally paid off in the 55th minute when Velasquez broke the seal with his third goal of the season. Velasquez saved a ball off the sideline to teammate
Robert Mejia, who flicked it on to a sprinting Velasquez down the left side.
The Ceres, Calif., native then out-muscled his defender at the 18 and sprinted inside the box where he slotted home a shot back across the goal mouth, tucking it inside the right post and setting off the capacity crowd for the 1-0 advantage.
Said Mickelson, "Winning the championship today is definitely something we wanted to redeem ourselves from after what happened the past two years. As far as winning the MVP, Andy played an outstanding game today, I consider him MVP of this game as well."
Things remained that way until the final minute with UC Santa Barbara pressing for the equalizer, earning a corner with 58 seconds to play. However, senior goalkeeper
Wallis Lapsley was able to punch the ball away from danger and the Aggies were on the counterattack.
With the Gauchos' goalkeeper playing up to give them as many men in the box as possible,
Robert Mejia was able to knock the ball away from a UCSB player to Mickelson, who sent the ball forward into empty space. Heptner was able to out-race his mark to the ball at the top of the box and punch it home into an empty net to secure the Aggies' first-ever Big West Tournament title.
UC Davis finished with an 18-4 overall advantage in the shot column — including an 8-1 lead in shots on goal — led by six attempts from Mickelson and five more by Heptner, who put four of his shots on frame. Lapsley was pressed to make only one save on the day as the defense extended its shutout streak to 365:35 dating back to the 13th minute in a double overtime win at Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 26.
AGGIE EVO
Established during the 2017-18 academic year, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation.
Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis.
Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley.
The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.
