The Utah Valley University men’s soccer team (4-6-1, 2-3 conference) was shut out 1-0 by the Seattle University Redhawks (5-6-1, 4-1) on Friday at Championship Field in Seattle, Washington.
With the loss, UVU now drops to seventh in the Western Athletic Conference standings, losing their third conference game of the season. The Redhawks are second in the WAC standings behind the Air Force University Falcons (6-4-2, 5-0).
After giving up a goal at the beginning of the game to the Redhawks, the Wolverines were never able to knock any of their shots in despite holding Seattle scoreless on defense following the early goal.
Wolverine forward Diego Castillo led the way for the Wolverines, firing four shots (one on goal) in 70 minutes of play. Mark Andros, Nico Torres, and Aaron Nixon followed behind with two shots apiece. Overall, six different Wolverines had a shot on goal.
UVU, despite losing, still dominated on offense, outshooting SU 16-9 (six to four in shots on goal) and 8-2 in corners. Wolverine goalkeeper Landon Carter also picked up three saves.
The Wolverines picked up eight fouls, including a red card by Kendi Bellini in the 84th minute. Owen Knecht and Carter Johnson also picked up yellow cards.
The match started quickly for the Redhawks with defender Richard Bedats, assisted by Mo Mohamed, punching home a goal in the first minute of the game to put SU up 1-0 early.
The Wolverines had no immediate answer as the Redhawks went on to fire three more shots a little less than 10 minutes later.
Castillo shot the first shot for the Wolverines in the 24th minute but was off target. Forward Ben Ortiz followed a few minutes later with a great shot toward the bottom left corner of the post but Akili Kasim made the save for the Redhawks.
Wolverine midfielder Alejandro Silva tried an attempt of his own in the 32nd minute but missed out to the right. Nixon followed with two attempts over the next five minutes but wasn’t able to knock in either shot. The rest of the half would finish uneventfully.
After two Redhawk shots by Yeider Zuluaga to start the second half, Wolverines Nik Kizerian and Abel Mendoza had great looks but weren’t able to knock them in after a save and a miss, respectively.
The Wolverines proceeded to fire three more attempts over the following 10 minutes but came up empty. Andros and Torres each had some close looks on goal in the 69th minute but Kasim made key back-to-back saves to hold the Wolverines at bay.
Owen Knecht had a good look during his first shot of the game in the 82nd minute; however, Kasim once again made the stop. Castillo fired another shot on goal towards the bottom right corner less than a few minutes later but Kasim denied yet another Wolverine.
The Wolverines would not get another opportunity to respond after UVU had three fouls of one red card and two yellow cards in the final minute of the half.
Bedats fired the last shot of the game for the Redhawks in the 88th minute to seal the deal as SU held on to win 1-0 despite the volley of attacks from the Wolverines. last
The Wolverines will next compete against the WAC third-place San Jose State Spartans (7-4-2, 3-1-1) on Sunday at 2 p.m. MT in a pivotal matchup at the Spartan Soccer Complex in San Jose, California. The match can be streamed on the WAC International Network.
