| | Published September 17, 2008
| Saint Mary's Falls to UC Irvine
| | By Mikaela Cowles |  | | Yousef Samy (8), Scott Eberhardt (3) Photo Tod Fierner |
Coming off a 0-1 loss to Houston Baptist on Sept. 5, the Saint Mary's Men's Soccer Team was
unable to regroup, losing again to UC Irvine 3-2 on Sept. 7 as the Saint Mary's Tournament neared
its end. With the loss, the Gaels' record slipped to 1-3 and the Anteaters' improved to 3-0-1.
Irvine's sophomore Amani Walker gave them the lead less than five minutes into the game, when he
scored on a header from the right corner. Kevin Santora was given the assist.
Saint Mary's freshman Malcolm Alguas gave the Gaels a glimmer of hope when he earned his first
collegiate goal off an assist from Justin Grinder - his first assist of the season - into the upper left
corner of the net, tying the game 1-1.
The Gaels out-shot the Anteaters with a 4-2 margin in the first half, but it was still not enough. With
five minutes to go until the first half horn, Irvine took the lead for good when Matt Murphy's penalty
kick slipped past the Gaels' keeper Doug Herrick into the lower right corner. Irvine received the
penalty kick when Herrick took out Irvine's Michael Willrich within the goal area.
Herrick's foul was one of 16 along with a yellow card for the Gaels. Irvine followed closely behind
with 13 fouls and three yellow cards. Despite the physicality of the game, it was nothing compared to
the game against Houston Baptist, when both teams combined for a total of 36 fouls and seven
yellow cards.
The Gaels kept the ball mostly in Irvine territory during the second half, but the Anteaters defense
thwarted them from having any real scoring opportunities. In the 78th minute of play, Spencer
Thompson scored, putting Irvine up 3-1.
With 10 seconds left, the Gaels caught a break as Irvine's defense deflected Justin Kim's corner kick
in. The goal was too little too late for the Gaels, however, as they lost 3-2.
UC Irvine won the Saint Mary's Tournament on a tiebreaker due to goals over Sacramento State.
Irvine's Spencer Thompson, David Sias, Matt Murphy and Irving Garcia were named to the all
tournament team.
The Gaels will be back home on Oct. 3 to begin regular season games against San Diego.
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 | | Erik Rivas (7) Photo Tod Fierner |  | | | | |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA