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Published September 17, 2008
Saint Mary's Falls to UC Irvine
By Mikaela Cowles
Yousef Samy (8), Scott Eberhardt (3) Photo Tod Fierner

Coming off a 0-1 loss to Houston Baptist on Sept. 5, the Saint Mary's Men's Soccer Team was unable to regroup, losing again to UC Irvine 3-2 on Sept. 7 as the Saint Mary's Tournament neared its end. With the loss, the Gaels' record slipped to 1-3 and the Anteaters' improved to 3-0-1. Irvine's sophomore Amani Walker gave them the lead less than five minutes into the game, when he scored on a header from the right corner. Kevin Santora was given the assist. Saint Mary's freshman Malcolm Alguas gave the Gaels a glimmer of hope when he earned his first collegiate goal off an assist from Justin Grinder - his first assist of the season - into the upper left corner of the net, tying the game 1-1. The Gaels out-shot the Anteaters with a 4-2 margin in the first half, but it was still not enough. With five minutes to go until the first half horn, Irvine took the lead for good when Matt Murphy's penalty kick slipped past the Gaels' keeper Doug Herrick into the lower right corner. Irvine received the penalty kick when Herrick took out Irvine's Michael Willrich within the goal area. Herrick's foul was one of 16 along with a yellow card for the Gaels. Irvine followed closely behind with 13 fouls and three yellow cards. Despite the physicality of the game, it was nothing compared to the game against Houston Baptist, when both teams combined for a total of 36 fouls and seven yellow cards. The Gaels kept the ball mostly in Irvine territory during the second half, but the Anteaters defense thwarted them from having any real scoring opportunities. In the 78th minute of play, Spencer Thompson scored, putting Irvine up 3-1. With 10 seconds left, the Gaels caught a break as Irvine's defense deflected Justin Kim's corner kick in. The goal was too little too late for the Gaels, however, as they lost 3-2. UC Irvine won the Saint Mary's Tournament on a tiebreaker due to goals over Sacramento State. Irvine's Spencer Thompson, David Sias, Matt Murphy and Irving Garcia were named to the all tournament team. The Gaels will be back home on Oct. 3 to begin regular season games against San Diego.

Erik Rivas (7) Photo Tod Fierner
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