Sac State men’s soccer team ties UC Irvine 2-2

Hornets come back to tie game after trailing by 2

Patrick Walsh

Sac State sophomore defender Alejandro Alacantaro battles for possession of the ball with UC Irvine freshman midfielder Roberto Molina Saturday Oct. 12 at Hornet Field. UC Irvine and Sac State played a 2-2 draw.

Robert Moon
October 13, 2019

The Sacramento State men’s soccer team (5-6-2, 0-1-1 Big West Conference) managed to come back and tie UC Irvine 2-2 Saturday, with only 2:15 remaining in regulation when senior defender Luis Urias scored the equalizer.

The game started rough for both teams with the ball going back and forth in the first half and neither team managed to score.

“I felt it was probably our worst soccer-playing performance of the year,” Sac State head coach Michael Linenberger said.

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The first goal was scored by UC Irvine senior midfielder Victor Falck when he was awarded a penalty kick fifteen minutes into the second half.

Things didn’t look good for Sac State when, with less than twenty minutes left in the game, Irvine senior midfielder Jose Ortiz scored, bringing the score to 2-0. However, Sac State senior midfielder Matt Carnefix quickly brought the game to 2-1.

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Urias then scored the equalizing goal with two minutes and fifteen seconds to go in regulation.

Sac State junior goalkeeper Hector Grajeda said he was relieved when Urias scored and anticipating more.

“After I saw the second one, I thought we were going to get a third,” said Grajeda. “And we almost did. We just kept pushing and unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.”

As the game was tied at two at the end of regulation, the game went into overtime.

During double overtime, Sac State sophomore midfielder Oscar Govea fought off Ortiz multiple times, with Ortiz getting a yellow card during their back and forth exchange.

“When you’ve got another technical guy, who’s a little bit dirty, that’s how it (is) sometimes,” said Govea. “It’s just one of those games where things weren’t going our way.”

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Ultimately, the game ended in a tie as neither team scored during both overtime periods.

Despite the tough match, Linenberger said he was proud of his team’s performance.

“Although I didn’t think we played well with the ball today, I thought we worked hard,” Linenberger said. “Then our perseverance to come back from 0-2 down late in the game to tie 2-2, I am proud of my team for that.”

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Govea said he was happy to have managed a tie instead of a loss, especially given UC Irvine’s 11-6-4 record in 2018.

“You know, we didn’t get the win, but this point was a big point for us,” said Govea. “UC Irvine last time won the Big West regular-season (title). Everybody knows they are a possessive team, as you have seen today. So coming in and coming back from 2-0 down was a big-time performance by our team.”

Sac State plays next at CSU Northridge Wednesday at 7 p.m.