Second half push comes up short in 2-1 loss to UC Santa Cruz
ORANGE, Calif. – Down by two goals in the second half, the Chapman University men's soccer team put some pressure on visiting UC Santa Cruz, but came up short, as Santa Cruz escaped with a 2-1 win on Sunday night at Wilson Field. Chapman had won the previous three matches in the series with Santa Cruz's last victory over Chapman coming in 2010.
Santa Cruz (4-2) controlled the ball for much of the first half, outshooting Chapman 7-4. Two of those shots were goals by Santa Cruz senior M Cody Pillon. In the 25th minute Pillon scored and he then followed up that goal with another in 42nd minute off an assist by sophomore F Zachary Hummel to take a 2-0 lead.
The score remained 2-0 until the second half when Chapman sophomore D Mikey Stoddard scored in the 68th minute off a corner kick from the right corner by senior F Mauricio Alfonso. Chapman (2-3) only managed three shots the remainder of the game, only one of which was a shot on goal and Santa Cruz senior GK Matt Pereira saved that attempt by junior F Nick Echeverry in the 85th minute. Pereira had three saves for Santa Cruz.
Chapman outshot Santa Cruz 11-9 in the game with a 7-2 advantage in the second half. Echeverry attempted a team-high three shots and freshman GK Nick Berardi had two saves in his first-career start. Chapman now has two days off before returning to SCIAC play on Wednesday, Sept. 19 against Redlands at 4 p.m. on Wilson Field.
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/msoc/2012-13/boxscores/20120916_n2m4.xml
by Chris Watts
Sports Information Assistant
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