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Part One – Early results foreshadowed historic season
Part Two – Non-conference slate preps Ags for Big West championship run
 
 
Yes, this is a cliché, and one that is used by coaches from all sports: Championship teams find ways to win. As the 2019 season continued for men's soccer, this age-old adage was the perfect way to describe how the final games of UC Davis' non-conference schedule, and league slate unfolded.
 
The Aggies entered Big West play on a three-match win streak, and it was their non-conference finale at Sacramento State that brought that cliché to life (even though UC Davis and Sacramento State compete in the Big West Conference, they participate in a designated non-conference contest each season).
 
Down 1-0 after allowing an early goal, UC Davis scored the equalizer on a header from Nabi Kibunguchy in the 86th minute, on the final shot by either team in regulation, to force overtime.
 
Fifty-two seconds into the extra session, the game ended on the first shot that took place in OT — and that originated from Kristian Heptner's foot. Even though Sacramento State led the game for 62-plus minutes, it was the Aggies that held the lead when it mattered the most.

By scoring goals on the final shot of regulation, and inaugural attempt by either team in overtime, UC Davis entered its Big West opener at Cal Poly riding a three-game streak. And in the Ags' first league game of the season, it found a way to leave a defensive battle in San Luis Obispo with another three points in the league's standings.
 
This time, it was Luke Hazel who came off the bench and provided the late-game heroics needed to extend the Aggies' win streak to four, since it was he who caught Cal Poly's goalkeeper off-guard and drilled a textbook shot, from just outside the 18-yard box, inside the upper right-hand corner of the Mustangs' goal.
 
Whether game-winning goals were scored off a penalty kick, as was the case in the team's Big West home opener vs. CSUN, or during the run of play, which is how Adam Mickelson ended the Aggies' double-OT matchup at Cal State Fullerton with just over two minutes left in the game, UC Davis enjoyed clutch contributions from a variety of individuals.
 
This is what made the Aggies a dangerous team to face. Unlike some teams with one or two goal scorers responsible for a majority of the team's offense, UC Davis fielded a roster that included 14 players who found the back of the net in 2019.
 
One of those 14 players was junior Jake Haupt, who picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the season, since it was his 85th-minute header off a throw-in from the near sideline (next to the Aggies' bench) from Robert Mejia, that broke a scoreless tie, gave UC Davis its fourth win in a row against the Hornets (and 14th in the last 20 head-to-head meetings), and bragging rights over its cross-Causeway rivals for another season.
 
More importantly, Haupt's strike clinched the Aggies' third Big West title, and the No. 1 seed in the Big West Men's Soccer Tournament.
 
When UC Davis reported for its preseason practices in August, winning a league title and earning its third straight appearance in the Big West Tournament's championship game were two of the team's goals for the 2019 season.
 
With one goal accomplished, thanks to Haupt's goal versus the Hornets, men's soccer took a giant step towards returning to the conference's tournament championship since the road to a BWC Tournament title, and earning the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth, would now run through Davis since the Aggies earned  home field advantage throughout the league's postseason with that victory in their regular season finale.
 
As exciting as the regular season was for UC Davis fans, that set the stage for additional heroics by various Aggies and a historic playoff run — topics highlighted in the next installment of men's soccer's 2019 season recap.
 
 
 
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