The University of Redlands men's soccer team kicked off the regular season on the road against Vanguard University in Costa Mesa on Friday afternoon. After a 1-1 draw in regulation, the Lions scored the final goal as time expired to hand the Bulldogs a 1-2 non-conference loss.

After the Lions got on the board with a late, first-half score, the Bulldogs made the proper adjustments in the second frame to change the game. During that stanza, Redlands outshot Vanguard, 6-5, and won the corner kick battle, 3-1. The Bulldogs got to work immediately with two shots on goal in the first five minutes of play, but both were stopped by the Vanguard goalkeeper.

Although Vanguard attempted to put the game away with two quick shots on goal in the 83rd minute, sophomore goalkeeper Matteo Defina (Livermore, CA) came up with two huge saves to preserve the Bulldogs' comeback attempt. Nonetheless, Redlands answered by earning a pair of corner kicks in quick succession, with the second one leading to a quality shot by junior defender Oswaldo Magallanes (Juneau, AK), but it was blocked by a Lions' defender. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, Vanguard was unable to clear the ball, which gave senior defender Joey Kenney (Portland, OR) the time to tap it in for the score and force overtime.

After nearly 10 minutes of solid play from the Bulldogs, the Lions managed to deliver the golden goal as time expired.

In net, the Bulldogs held a 7-4 advantage on saves behind Defina's quality effort.

Redlands (0-1-0) jumps right into Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action against the Panthers of Chapman University on Saturday, September 8, at 7 p.m. on Farquhar Field.