A night to remember for UCI

IRVINE — It was a record-setting night all the way around for UC Irvine men’s soccer on Wednesday night against UC Santa Barbara.

Brad Evans’ record-setting 31st career goal at UC Irvine was also one of his easiest. In the 77th minute, Evans took advantage of a ball that UCSB goalie Kyle Reynish misplayed, stealing it and tapping it in for the final goal of a 2-0 UCI win.

After Evans made individual history, the Anteaters have a chance to make team history on Saturday at Cal State Northridge in the regular-season finale.

With the win, No. 21 UCI (13-3-3, 6-2-1 in conference) leapfrogged over No. 27 UCSB (11-7, 6-3) in the Big West Conference standings with just one game to go. A win on Saturday would clinch both the Big West championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

UCI men’s soccer has never accomplished either feat.

“Saturday’s the biggest game in UCI history,” Evans said. “The last game of last year, we had the chance to win the Big West title and we didn’t. It’s a new chance on Saturday. It’s a blessing to get to play again for the Big West championship.”

But for the Anteaters, school records were being set at every turn. Wednesday night’s win was in front of a record-setting home crowd of 1,561, and it’s the first time the UCI men’s soccer team has ever reached 13 wins.

“I just had so much confidence in these guys going in tonight,” Coach George Kuntz said. “The way we’ve been playing and training, I think they had it in them to do something special.”

It was also about vindication. It was UC Santa Barbara that knocked off the Anteaters in last year’s final game, dropping UCI from first to third in conference. UCSB also handed UCI one of its two conference losses this season, a 2-0 setback on the road on Oct. 7.

Evans and sophomore Matt Murphy, the team’s two leading scorers, had both served one-game suspensions in that game. But on Wednesday night, Murphy — who had been out for a week with a strained quadriceps — struck first.

On Senior Night, UCI senior Anthony Hamilton drove the ball near the goal in the 24th minute. After beating a drawn-out Reynish, Hamilton had a bad angle near the end line. But his deflected shot went right to Murphy in front, who booted it into the top of the goal.

“I had a lot of energy going in, because I hadn’t played in a week,” Murphy said. “I kind of shanked the ball, but it went in. It worked out.”

UC Santa Barbara nearly tied it in the second half. In the 57th minute, a Gauchos cross was tipped in the air by UCI goalie Kenny Schoeni. The ball angled backward toward the goal, but senior defender Cameron Dunn kicked it out of danger.

“Cameron is tenacious,” Kuntz said of his 5-foot-10 defender. “What you can’t measure with him is his heart. He’s playing against guys five or six inches taller than him, but he was determined to keep a clean slate.”

Four minutes later, UCSB’s Tino Nunez had a pair of hard shots. But the first went off UCI midfielder Brandon Tario, and the second went off a Gaucho to earn an Anteaters goal kick.

Evans — who had a hard collision with Reynish in the 66th minute with no foul called — had been frustrated by the physical play for much of the game.

But he took advantage 10 minutes later when Reynish took a ball played back to him on an in-between hop. The ball was bobbled and stayed alive, and Evans sped in and scored an insurance goal and a personal record-breaker.

“It’s really weird how it works out, because I thought I should have had at least two [penalty kicks] this game,” Evans said. “It’s just persistent work, and goals like that will happen. It’s weird to score a record-breaking goal on a goal like that, but I’ll take it.”

The Anteaters defense remained rock-solid all game. Led by Dunn, Sergio Rivera, Brandon Foster, Doug Franco and Kevin Santora, they gave up no shots in goal.

“You can really see it; we’re getting great defense as a team,” Schoeni said. “Tonight, I didn’t have to make a save of a shot on goal, so the whole team is really working hard together as a team.”

Seniors Schoeni, Evans, Dunn, Hamilton, Rivera, Franco, Tario and Craig Ettinger were all honored in a pre-game ceremony.

They all hope to extend their careers beyond Saturday.

“All the work’s paid off,” Evans said. “We wanted this to be a record-breaking night. I can’t really say how happy we are; it’s unbelievable.”

In the minutes after UCI’s emotional win over UC Santa Barbara, Murphy said the team understands what will be at stake at Cal State Northridge on Saturday.

“If we win, we’ll take the program to a level we’ve never been before,” he said.