For the second time in the span of a week, Seattle University and CSU Bakersfield engaged in an offensive shootout, with the Roadrunners once again coming out on top, 6-2, over the Redhawks Sunday afternoon in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's soccer match at Championship Field.
Similar to last Sunday's match in Bakersfield, Seattle U jumped on the scoreboard right away, this time within the first minute as Brady Ballew (Marysville, Wash.) stole the ball at midfield and took it towards the Roadrunner net, beating CSUB goalie Eric Shannon with a shot into the top right corner of the net. It was Ballew's third goal of the season, and it gave the Redhawks a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the match.
CSU Bakersfield (6-3-4, 3-2-0 MPSF) tied the match in the 11th minute as a free kick hit by Lucas Dall'Orso found Kory Kindle within the box, and Kindle's tap-in slid past Redhawk keeper Shane Haworth (Puyallup, Wash.). Hamza Haddadi (Shoreline, Wash.) had a good scoring chance just three minutes later, but Shannon was able to make the save.
Dall'Orso notched his second assist of the match, setting up Gyasi Zardes with a pass into the box in the 18th minutes, and Zardes converted to put the Roadrunners ahead, 2-1. In the 36th minute, Zardes struck again for CSU Bakersfield, dribbling past three defenders and sliding the ball past Haworth from five yards out to give the visitors a 3-1 advantage.
The Redhawks came right back in the 42nd minute, as Renato Bandeira (Sammamish, Wash.) sent a long pass into the box, where Miguel Gonzalez (Yelm, Wash.) was able to redirect the ball into the net for his third tally of the season. With less than two minutes left in the first half, Gonzalez had another chance, but his shot was stopped by Shannon, keeping the Roadrunners ahead at halftime, 3-2.
CSU Bakersfield dominated the second half, outshooting the Redhawks after halftime, 17-4. Haworth was able to stop back-to-back shots by David Velasquez and Christian Duarte in the 54th minute, but six minutes later, the combination of Dall'Orso and Kindle struck again, as Kindle was able to get his head on a free kick from Dall'Orso and redirect it into the net for his sixth goal of the season.
Haworth was able to stop two shots by Zardes later in the second half, but the junior forward was finally able to complete his hat trick in the 83rd minute, taking a pass from Eduardo Caldaza, dribbling through two defenders, and shooting the ball along the ground into the net. In the 87th minute, a pass from Joe Masumiya found Zardes, who eluded Haworth and converted on the scoring chance for his fourth goal of the match and 11th tally of the season.
For the match, CSU Bakersfield took 26 shots, 11 of them by Zardes, while Seattle U was held to 10 shots during the afternoon. Shannon made three saves for the Roadrunners, while Haworth finished with a career-high eight saves for the Redhawks.
Seattle University (2-9-1, 0-4-1 MPSF) begins the second half of the conference schedule with a road trip to Colorado, first facing Air Force next Friday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. local time (6 p.m. Pacific time) before taking on Denver Sunday, Oct. 21, at 2:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. Pacific time). The Redhawks return to Championship Field for two more home matches, hosting Houston Baptist (Oct. 26, 12:30 p.m.) and New Mexico (Oct. 28, 2:30 p.m.).