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(October 17, 2007) -- UC
Riverside played to it’s school-record fifth tie of
the season in their match that finished 2-2 with Cal State
Fullerton at the UCR Soccer Stadium Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore
Zach Walker’s free-kick from just inside midfield found
the back of the net to tie the match with one second left
of regulation time to send the two teams to overtime.
Senior Brandon Plummer
gave the Highlanders (4-3-5, 1-1-3 Big West) an early lead
with his first goal of the season in the 17th minute. Senior
Steven Kaufman and sophomore Michael Galland worked a perfect
give-an-go that left Galland deep inside the right corner
of the box. Galland sent a crossing pass that went just over
of the reach of Titan keeper Kevin Puder and found Plummer
who tapped the ball into the empty net for a 1-0 advantage.
CSF (4-7-2, 0-4-2 Big West)
answered in the 35th minute, Shay Spitz dribbled through the
Highlander defense and fired a shot from the left side of
the penalty box that banged off a Highlander defensemen and
past UCR keeper Charles Alamo to tie it at 1-1.
James Maynard gave Fullerton
a 2-1 lead at the 59th minute, heading a cross from Michael
Farfan into the top left corner of the net to put UCR’s
chances of picking up three-points to keep pace in their chase
for a conference title in jeopardy.
As time wound down to under
10 seconds remaining, the Highlanders made a push into the
Titan zone that resulted in a CSF foul, a yellow card was
given for stalling after the ball was then tossed out of play
by a Titan defender.UCR was awarded free-kick and four seconds
was put on the clock by the referees. Walker took his place
just inside the midfield line with every player on the field
vying for position in front of the net including Alamo who
had ran all the way down for the final play of regulation.
Walker’s kick sailed high over the field clearing all
the players along with a leaping Fullerton keeper and snuck
in just under the cross-bar to send the match into the extra
periods.
UCR had a couple chances
early in the first overtime to pick up the win, but Puder
held strong and the teams settled for the tie. The tie gave
the Highlanders one point and now have six which is good enough
to keep them among the top four teams in the standings.
Puder finished with nine
saves as the Highlanders outshot CSF 22-18. Alamo made three
saves and Nathan Paterson and Plummer led both teams with
four shots on goal apiece.
The Highlanders welcome
the 10th ranked and defending national champion UC Santa Barbara
to the UCR Soccer Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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