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DAVIS, Calif. – Sacramento State recorded 10 shots in Saturday's Big West Conference regular season finale, but do not let that stat fool you because UC Davis dominated every facet of that game for the full 90 minutes. When
Robert Mejia's throw in from the near sideline traveled half-way across the field, it was
Jake Haupt that received the ball and punched in the game-winning shot, in the 85th minute, moments later.
With a 1-0 win against its cross-Causeway rival, UC Davis earned its second Big West championship in the last three years, and third overall since joining the conference in 2007. Men's soccer also earned a First Round bye at this year's Big West Conference Tournament, and will not return to action until next Saturday's home semifinal.
Every soccer fan's attention will now shift to Irvine for tonight's 7 p.m. matchup between CSUN and UC Irvine. If the Anteaters tie or lose to the Matadors, UC Davis is this year's stand-alone Big West regular season champions, and will enter next week's league playoffs as the event's No. 1 seed. If UCI defeats CSUN, they are this year's regular season co-champions, and the Anteaters will earn the top seed due to their head-to-head victory vs. the Aggies earlier this season.
"Jake has been outstanding for us all season long. He is an outstanding soccer player, and unbelievable athlete with great instincts. Overall, he is a great soccer player. He deserved to score the game-winning goal," said UC Davis head coach
Dwayne Shaffer.
"It's been a long process to find the right guys who play the game the right way. This group is filled with quality players who really started to mesh since the start of conference play. I am excited for this group, I feel we deserved this result with the way everyone played today, and we played at an elite level well enough all season long to win a Big West Conference championship," Shaffer added.
UC Davis could have scored the game's first goal in the 66th minute is a Sacramento State defender did not stand in the right place at the right time to redirect Mickelson's header at the last possible second. With the Hornets' goalkeeper beaten on the play — he played the ball and covered the near post, but Mickelson saw how the 'keeper reacted and headed the ball towards the opposite side of the goal — and would have scored if not kicked towards midfield by an opposing player.
That team save only prevented the inevitable for a bit of time because the Hornets were forced to withstand one UC Davis scoring opportunity after another until Haupt hit paydirt for his first goal of the year.
That shot provided the perfect ending for a day that started with the program's Senior Day ceremony. Before action began, UC Davis men's soccer honored their 2019 senior class —
Marte Formico,
Kristian Heptner,
Wallis Lapsley,
Adam Mickelson and
Dylan Wood — alongside their friends, family members and loved ones.
On the opposite end of the field, Lapsley earned his seventh shutout of the season, which bumped his career total to 19. This clean sheet means that he now holds the program's all-time shutout record since he arrived to Aggie Soccer Field on Saturday tied alongside Omar Zeenni (2010-13) with the Aggies' No. 1 total.
UC Davis will not know its next opponent until the opening round of the Big West Tournament concludes on Wednesday.
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.
