Despite dominating first half, two yellow cards, an ?ejection and a little bad luck cost Pilots the game
By Jeff Trousdale
The Pilot men's soccer team looked like they finally had it. After four years without a victory against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the UP men were up 1-0 Friday night, and dominating the first half of the homecoming game. Then Murphy's Law invited itself to the party.
Senior forward Steven Hosseinmardi received his second yellow card and a subsequent ejection in the 30th minute, and as he stormed off the field, the game turned ugly. The Pilots managed to hang on to their lead in the first half, but two goals by the Bulldogs (4-2-1) in the second half put the Pilots (3-3-2) away, resulting in a 2-1 victory for Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference opener.
Hosseinmardi, who was unavailable for comment after the game, made a slide tackle in what appeared to be a play for the ball. The referee did not think so, and Hosseinmardi's second yellow card resulted in a red card and ejection.
The Pilots were forced to play with a man down for the next 60 minutes, a situation head Coach Bill Irwin described as game changing.
"It's very frustrating," Irwin said. "We had the game under control and one split second of stupidity changed the entire thing."
UP had a blazing start to the game, dominating both possession of the ball and shots, with an 11-5 differential in attempts. Senior forward Bryan Irwin began the night's scoring with an unassisted goal in the 14th minute, when he found himself in the middle of a crowd at the top of the box, and fired a shot that ricocheted off a Gonzaga defender and the left goalpost before going in.
The Pilots continued their attack on the Gonzaga goal, and even seemed to be playing well after Hosseinmardi's ejection, but two close calls on a sloppy pass to the goalie and an ensuing corner kick signified what was to come.
The Bulldogs came out with a vengeance as soon as the second half began, when Gonzaga forward Tye Perdido scored on an assist from midfielder Bryan Mullaney, 22 seconds into the half.
"I don't even know what happened," Bill Irwin said, referring to the goal. "We were caught sleeping and we were punished as a result."
Gonzaga continued their aggressive attack for the rest of the half, and ended up with an 11-5 advantage in shots for the second half, as well as four corner kicks to UP's one.
The Bulldogs netted the game winner in the 75th minute when forward Mitchell Weller scored unassisted after the Pilots were unable to clear the ball from in front of the goal.
Bryan Irwin described it as shooting themselves in the foot, especially after they had dominated the first half so effectively. As a senior, he and the Pilots have never beaten the Bulldogs and they are now 0-4-3 against Gonzaga since 2005.
"I'm frustrated that we can't even beat them on our home field," Bryan Irwin said. "It's really disappointing as a senior to have never beaten these guys."
Despite the significance of the game, a conference opener against a rival school, Coach Irwin said that he treated it like every other game.
"I want to win every game and I don't people coming in and beating us here," Bill Irwin said. "This is our backyard and teams should be scared, they should never want to play us here."
The Pilots must now begin their regular season with a deficit, but they hope to regroup after the loss and improve in their future games.
"We've just got to roll up our sleeves as a team and battle together," Bryan Irwin said. "We can learn from this and we've got to take it to teams if this happens again."
The Pilots stay at Merlo Field next weekend when they face Santa Clara on Friday at 7 p.m. and San Francisco Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
