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Faridnia's Goal With :07 To Play Sparks Bulldogs
Oct. 15, 2000 SPOKANE, Wash. - Abbas Faridnia scored on the open net off a pass from Brian Ching with :07 remaining Sunday to give Gonzaga University a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind West Coast Conference men's soccer victory over Saint Mary's College. Faridnia's goal, his second of the season, capped a comeback that saw Gonzaga (7-4-0, 2-0-0) score twice in the final 3:52 for the victory. For the Gaels (4-9-0, 0-2-0) the loss was a bitter pill to swallow as they held the 1-0 lead from the 28:51 mark when Alex Monsalve converted Alex Avina's cross to beat Gonzaga keeper Mike McCarthy. And the Gaels had dodged several solid Gonzaga scoring opportunities in the second half as Gonzaga held a 19-1 second-half shots advantage. Plus, the Gaels were forced to play shorthanded when Monsalve received a red card for kicking at a Gonzaga defender at 83:24, and found themselves two men down at 89:09 when Josh Duffy was red carded for a hard tackle on the Bulldogs' Brian Ching. Gonzaga got the equalizer at 86:08 when Justin Franson took a Joe Marks pass down the left side, beat the defender and launched a perfect left-to-right cross to Ching who headed the ball into the net for his sixth goal of the season and his second in as many matches since returning from a four-match stay on the injured list. Ching had a hard shot blocked seconds before the Bulldogs went back on the attack that produced the score. With time running down, Faridnia had a shot from the top of the box saved by SMC keeper Kellan Wilson at 89:26. The Bulldogs got the ball back with less than 15 seconds remaining, the defense collapsed on Ching on the right side and he slid a perfect right-to-left pass to Faridnia who was all alone in front of the empty goal as Wilson had also followed the original play to his left. Saint Mary's players argued for an offside call, but the officials disallowed the protest. "That's a tough way for Saint Mary's to lose, but we dominated the match especially in the second half," head coach Einar Thorarinsson said. "We really wanted it, and maybe we tried too hard at times. Obviously, Saint Mary's playing two men down worked to our advantage." The win was also important for Gonzaga to stay in the WCC title chase. The Bulldogs play their final home match of the season Friday against the University of San Francisco. Following a pair of non-conference matches at the University of Washington and Oregon State University, the Bulldogs conclude the regular season with WCC road matches at the University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount University and the University of Portland. Gonzaga had no less than four solid second-half scoring opportunities the Bulldogs failed to finish. Jason Kuska had a point blank shot that Wilson saved at 60:56, Ching missed an open net chance from 18 yards at 64:40 when his open shot went wide left, Wilson stopped Kuska's free kick at 66:42 and Ching's shot went wide left at 79:47 as he was pressured from behind by a defender after taking a long pass from beyond mid-field. The Bulldogs' best first-half chance came at 35:32 when Joe Marks' shot from the right side went off Wilson's hands and over the crossbar. The Gaels also had a couple of opportunities to increase their 1-0 lead. Brian Rhodes' header at 75:17 sailed wide right, and Nick Marcum's hard drive was stopped earlier by McCarthy at 40:27.
Goals by Period 1 2 Tot ------------------------------- SAINT MARY'S........ 1 0 - 1 GONZAGA............. 0 2 - 2
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