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Men's Soccer Downs League-Leading San Diego 4-1
Nov. 7, 2008
SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University's men's soccer team continued its late-season surge Friday at Gonzaga Soccer Field with a 4-1 win over West Coast Conference leading University of San Diego. The win was the third straight for the Bulldogs (8-7-2, 5-4-1), who avenged an earlier 3-0 setback at USD, as they kept their post-season hopes alive. USD (6-7-3, 6-3-0) lost for the second straight match and for the third time in its last five outings. Gonzaga moved into a tie for second place with the University of San Francisco (5-3-1 for 16 points), the Dons' only WCC action of the weekend coming Sunday at Saint Mary's College. The Bulldogs and Dons are two points behind USD. The highly emotional - and oftentimes physical - match was played on a wet field as rain fell throughout most of the day. There were five yellow cards issued, three on Gonzaga, and tempers flared on several occasions on both teams. The teams traded quick goals early in the match. Tye Perdido scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season on an assist from Collin Harrison at 18:07 to give the Bulldogs the early lead. Harrison sent a left-to-right feed to Perdido and he drilled a shot to the upper right of the goal from the top of the 18. It took the Toreros just 33 seconds to get the equalizer. Andrew Feld took a long pass on the right side and shot from 25 yards, the ball skipping on wet grass and finding the far corner. Gonzaga gained a 2-1 halftime lead when senior Bryan Mullaney notched his first goal of the season at 35:41. The play started when Conor Baranski's straightaway shot was batted out by USD keeper Kelin Briones and Mullaney found the rebound on the right side and drilled home the easy look at the open goal.
The Bulldogs got a big insurance goal early in the second half, Zach Smith scoring his third tally of the season at 50:11 on assists from Nick Heinrichs and Baranski. Smith took the pass on the right side, dribbled inside the 18 and shot to the far post to beat Briones. USD came close to drawing to within a goal when Feld's shot from the left wing off a corner kick slid just wide past the near post at 68:31. A minute later Gonzaga all but put the match away when Nick Love scored a goal for the fourth straight match when he took a long pass from Mitchell Weller, dribbled in past Briones and beat him from 12 yards straightaway. Gonzaga had a chance to increase the lead even more at 71:55 when Conor Baranski was taken down for a penalty kick, but Briones dove low to his right to make the save. "We play for each other and with each other," Gonzaga University head coach Einar Thorarinsson said of the unselfish effort turned in by his club. "We had four different goal scorers today and four different players also had assists. We'll pass the ball to set up a better shot for someone else." The four goals marked the biggest offensive output for the Bulldogs this season and was their first four-goal match since a 4-0 home victory over Saint Mary's College Oct. 8, 2006. Gonzaga had three goals twice this season in 3-2 overtime wins at home over UMKC and at USF. Gonzaga will be back in action Sunday to face Loyola Marymount University at 1 p.m. in the final home match of the season. Heinrichs, Mullaney and Baranski will say farewell to Gonzaga Soccer Field in pre-game ceremonies honoring this year's seniors. Following Sundays' match the Bulldogs end the regular season at Saint Mary's Nov. 16. |
