Davis, Calif. - Emmanuel Doherty scored his first career brace to lead UC Davis (4-6-3, 3-1-1) past CSU Bakersfield 2-1 at Aggie Soccer Field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Aggies won their third in a row and climbed to second in the Big West, just a point back of first place-UC Santa Barbara, whom the Aggies will face in a week's time. 

Doherty, a fifth-year senior, doubled his best single-season goal total with a 9:09 span in the first half. 

His first came in the 35th minute off a ball initially played in by Sean Bilter, headed from the left side of the goal by Hayden Carlson to Jason Hsu who tapped to Doherty and shot from around the post to bottom right corner. 

Doherty's second goal came with under a minute to play on a pass in from the far corner of the box that snuck through a defender for him to punch in just a couple feet from his first goal. 

The Aggies out-shot CSU Bakersfield 18-9 and racked up five in the first 7:21 of the game. Though the Roadrunners got a goal back in the 51st minute, it was outstanding defense by Luke Goodman, Max Glasser, and Carlson for long stretches of the second half that kept CSU Bakersfield at bay. 

UC Davis will have a chance to pick up more ground in the conference on Saturday with another match at Aggie Soccer Field against Cal State Fullerton before heading on the road to face the Gauchos.