BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Santa Clara men's soccer and CSU Bakersfield played to a 1-all draw in front of a packed crowd of over 2,000 fans at Main Soccer Field on Wednesday night. The Broncos got on the board with a goal late in the opening half before the Roadrunners tied it in the second half. A total of six cards were issued including two reds. The red cards were issued within three minutes of one another to each team in the final 20 minutes of action.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Gabrielius Mazonas opened the scoring in the 40th minute for Santa Clara (3-2-3). The freshman's second goal of the season came from long distance finding the back of the net to the far post. Filip Arras scored the equalizer for CSU Bakersfield (0-6-1) in the 63rd minute.
- The Roadrunners came out strong from the opening kick and peppered the first four shots of the game in the first 13 minutes including a shot off the left post by Justin Knighton.
- The Broncos weathered the storm and allowed just one more shot the rest of the half while getting off six shots of their own. The only shot on goal was the one by Mazonas as SCU took a 1-0 lead into the half.
- CSU Bakersfield had two goals waved off, one in each half on an offsides call and when the corner kick passed over the end line, as they kept knocking at the door before Arras broke through. On the play, a centering pass was chested down by a Bronco defender across the goal that Arras banged in.
- In the 71st minute, Bogart Roca was given a red card but the Santa Clara advantage was short lived when defender Alejandro Arenas received a red card three minutes later for denying a goal-scoring opportunity just outside the penalty box.
- With each team down a player, Will Wiersdorf put up three shots and had a good scoring chance but was turned away by Roadrunner goalkeeper Zenden Hart. He had two saves on the day. Jackson Ozburn had one save.
NOTABLE NUMBERS / GAME NOTES:
- Santa Clara and CSU Bakersfield have played each other twice historically with both ending in draws.
HIGHLIGHTS:
POST-GAME COMMENTS:
Head Coach Cam Rast's thoughts on the game:
"Tonight we lacked the sharpness that we had from last Sunday. On Sunday, we were solid against UNLV - we were motivated, the actions were good and it led to goals. But today we lacked that sharpness and we were rash with the ball, meaning we turned it over too quickly. So we'll have to show those moments on tape to the players so they can look at it. We were lucky to not be down early. They had one shot off the post and a couple of goals that were waved off. At moments today, we looked like ourselves but other times, we were missing that sharpness. We want to play like we did against UNLV again and again as we prep for our next game."
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara will take the pitch again on Saturday to face Utah Valley on the road at 6 p.m. PT.
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