Photo by Maricel Evangelista
One year after Cal State Northridge was shut out by UVU in a 1-0 defeat, the Matadors (2-1) extracted their revenge on the No. 14 ranked Wolverines (1-1) 2-1 on Friday, scoring two goals in the first 17 minutes on their first two shots of the game. Paul Hoffmeister and Donnett Sackie missed their second game of the season, and their offensive firepower is sorely missed by the Wolverines, who have been unable to break the one-goal barrier in either of the first two games of the season.
“Today was really on us,” said UVU head coach Greg Maas. “We had early chances in the first 15 minutes where we honestly should’ve put at least one or two chances away and when you don’t do that you allow teams into the match.”
The Wolverines did put a good amount of pressure on the Matadors early, but Austin Buxton sent his first shot high before putting another shot just wide four minutes later. Shortly afterward, in the 13th minute, Daniel Trejo snuck a shot past a diving Elliott Rubio to give the Matadors a 1-0 lead. It was Trejo’s second goal of the season. Just four minutes later Jordan Kinoshi found the back of the net on a free kick and doubled the deficit for the Wolverines.
UVU was able to get one back in the 34th minute when Nic Harguindeguy buried a free kick past CSUN goalkeeper Henrik Regitnig, who made five saves in the game. Despite outshooting the Matadors 12-4, it would be the final goal of the night for the Wolverines.
“Credit to our guys and their resiliency for coming back and getting the goal,” said Maas. “But we needed to be more disciplined; our soccer needed to be better. We kind of panicked in the game and I thought it got us out of our style and our rhythm.”
After giving up two goals on his first two shots faced, a bad night turned worse for Rubio in the 37th minute as he collided in the box with a CSUN player and went down with an apparent leg injury. Rubio was helped off the field by the trainers and redshirt freshman Joseph Wheelwright took his place in net. Wheelwright made the save on the only shot he faced on the night.
The Wolverines will try to put their first loss of the season behind them as they go on the road next week, facing two California teams, Cal State Fullerton Sept. 8 at 8:30 p.m. and San Diego State Sept. 10 at 8 p.m.
