The men’s soccer team lost 1-0 to UC Riverside on Wednesday, their first Big West loss at home this season, and their second loss at home overall.
The Highlanders took the lead after only 8 minutes when defender Ehi Isibor pulled up with a hamstring problem, allowing Riverside’s Edward Bonito to get in behind and latch on to a lobbed pass over the top and slot it into the bottom corner of the net.
“It was a weird moment for him to get hurt at the correct moment for them for their forward running behind,” Zach Feldman, assistant coach, said about the play, which forced Isibor to exit the game early.
From there, the Matadors were forced to play catch-up but intense pressure from Riverside denied CSUN from getting into a groove.
Every time CSUN found a player in the attacking area, a Riverside defender popped up to deny any space for a good shot, resulting in CSUN having to find other ways to create chances.
The Matadors looked to regain some momentum in the second half, but again Riverside was steadfast in their defensive duties and kept CSUN out of the danger areas.
The most lively player for CSUN was forward Wolfgang Prentice, who was able to use his pace to get by his marker on multiple occasions, eventually drawing a foul from Riverside’s Alan Alcantara that the referee deemed too harsh and gave him a red card after 66 minutes.
Even with the man advantage for the rest of the game, nothing seemed to click for the Matadors offensively.
Forwards Daniel Trejo and Johnny Rodriguez both had shots miss just wide in the last few minutes of the match that would have sent it into overtime, but instead the result went the way of the Highlanders.
“I just think we didn’t come out with the same intensity that we usually do against top teams,” senior Andrew Rizeq said. “We just got to get better at executing. I don’t think we played bad. It’s just taking our chances. That’s all it is.”
Rizeq continued to say the man on man defense was causing problems in the first half but that CSUN did a better job of creating chances in the second half.
^ignore that, getting more info from tyler on wtf he’s talking about.
“I think Riverside is a really good team and they fought really hard,” Feldman said. “We had like 20 shots or something like that. I just think the ball didn’t go in. Their goalie made some good saves and we could have finished a little bit better.”
The Matadors now sit at 8-6-1 and 2-2-1 in the Big West with only two games left before the Big West tournament commences on Oct. 31.
The team next plays on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. at UC Santa Barbara before returning home for the final regular season game of the year on Saturday, Oct. 27 against UC Irvine.
