UC Irvine men win Big West tournament title

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The No. 3 seed UC Irvine men's soccer team (15-6) defeated No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara 4-1 Saturday night in the championship match of the Big West Tournament at Harder Stadium.

Big West Tournament Most Valuable Player, Carlos Aguilar (Palmdale/Taft College) took a corner kick in the 10th minute to senior Kevin Santora (Los Altos/Bellarmine College Prep) who flicked it to junior Gray Bailey (Huntington Beach HS). Bailey knocked into the net from the right side of the box to put UCI up 1-0. Senior Irving Garcia (San Luis, Ariz./Yavapai College) stole the ball after a Gaucho defender played the ball back towards keeper Sam Hayden. Hayden wasn’t able to collect the ball as Garcia knocked it to himself behind the keeper and then guided the ball into the empty net for a 2-0 Anteater lead in the 30th minute. Junior Spencer Thompson was taken down in the box giving UCI a penalty kick in the 62nd minute. Aguilar took the kick for the ‘Eaters and converted to put UCI up 3-0. Thompson would create his own opportunity as he dribbled the ball to 15 yards out and knocked it across to the left side of the net for a 4-0 Anteater lead. The Gauchos would add a late goal in the 83rd minute cutting the lead to 4-1, but UCI would prevail to win their second straight Big West Tournament title and earn the Big West’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.      

Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Fontein (Las Vegas, Nev./Sierra Vista HS) had six saves for UCI in 80 minutes of play. Junior Victor Chichilla (Palmdale/Taft College) played the final 10 minutes in net for the ‘Eaters. Sam Hayden had three saves for UCSB.

The ‘Eaters will now await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show that will decide who, where and when the will play their first match of the 2009 NCAA Men’s Soccer Championship.