Men’s soccer: UCI holds on to first place

Amara Aguilar

Scott Bowman and Brad Aspey each scored two goals to help UC Irvine

shut out visiting Cal State Fullerton, 4-0, in a crucial Big West men’s

soccer game Sunday.

The playoff race is tight at this point in the season, with only a few

points separating each team in the standings. The Titans were in fourth

place and trailed first-place UCI by two points going into Sunday’s game.

Bowman scored the first goal on a header in the 23rd minute with an

assist from Saul Wolf. The Anteaters took a 1-0 lead at the half.

Aspey added a goal in the 47th minute with an assist from Bowman. The

Anteaters had another chance a minute later when Bowman took a shot on

net that went just wide.

In the 52nd minute, the Anteaters again penetrated the Titans’

defense. Lawrence Smalls took a shot from a sharp angle that was blocked,

but the rebound went straight to Aspey who knocked the ball into the net.

Bowman scored the final goal of the game in the 53rd minute from seven

yards out. He found the net with a soft shot that rolled slowly by the

Titan goalkeeper.

UCI outshot Cal State Fullerton, 29-9. Starting goalkeeper Cameron

Rossi had seven saves in 69 minutes of play and C.J. Cooper had one to

finish out the game for the shutout.

With the victory, the Anteaters remain in first place with 14 points

and improve to 8-3-5, 4-0-2 in the Big West.

“We needed a game like this,” UCI head coach George Kuntz said. “We’ve

really worked hard to build the program to this point. At this point, we

need to show we can perform and execute against a team like this.”

The Anteaters, who have four games left to play in the Big West,

competed without Jason Thompson, a midfielder who suffered a calf injury.

Thompson started in UCI’s 7-2 victory against Cal State Fullerton (7-8-1,

3-3-0) earlier this season.

UCI next faces UC Riverside Friday at 3 p.m.