THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The Cal Lutheran men's soccer team took the pitch inside William Rolland Stadium Wednesday afternoon to play the Banana Slugs from UC Santa Cruz for a non-conference matchup. This would be the first game of a doubleheader, as the women's soccer team would take on La Verne in the nightcap.
The first half featured very few scoring opportunities between both teams. The best scoring chance was created by Gubidxa Gutierrez-Seymour who fired a shot off the left post.
The score would remain level (0-0) after 90 minutes of play as the game headed to overtime. This left two 10-minute periods to play and any goal would give the team a sudden death victory.
The Kingsmen would find that winning goal just six minutes into overtime when Jaime Alvarado delivered a cross and Brandon Kearney put the ball in the back of the net to clinch the win.
Cal Lutheran recorded their fifth shutout of the season. Defenders Cristian Yepez, Charlie Villa-Lovos and Cody Collins were strong on the back line to preserve the clean sheet.
UC Santa Cruz had nine shots with two on goal and the Kingsmen had 15 shots with six on goal. Diego Ortega and Stevie Ray Trujillo each contributed two shots on goal. Kearney and Jared Pischke each tallied one shot on goal.
Eduardo Garcia started the game between the posts for Cal Lutheran, but was replaced by Sergio Esquivel who made two saves to earn his first shutout and win of the season.
Cal Lutheran (6-3, 4-2 SCIAC) will be back at William Rolland Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 30 to play La Verne at 5 p.m.
Box Score: CLU 1, UCSC 0
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Release by Jeff Rebello, Student Intern