Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OREM — What a difference home field makes.
After three straight road matches, including losses at Sacramento State and Seattle that knocked them out of the NSCAA top 25, Utah Valley men’s soccer returned to Clyde Field with a 3-0 win over Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night.
“It was very important for our team. We’ve spent the last four or five weeks on the road, and that’s taken its toll on a lot of different areas. We love this pitch, we love these fans and we had a great week of training that help get us ready for tonight.”
Gui Leme opened the scoring just 13 minutes in, picking off Bakersfield goalkeeper Antony Siaha in the open field and slotting home a ball inside the far post for a 1-0 advantage.
“I thought we got good pressure on their back line, and we were just hunting for that bad pass,” Mauss said. “Gui certainly broke the ice and got things started. From that point, we settled down and really started possessing the ball.”
Paul Hoffmeister doubled the advantage in the 28th minute, rising up on Karson Payton’s 10-yard cross to the top of the six-yard box for a glancing header before the half-hour mark.
Just two minutes later, Aaron Meyer converted a penalty kick to account for all the scoring for the Wolverines (8-3, 1-1 WAC).
Former Davis High goalkeeper Mitch Jensen made one save in a surprise start after regular starter Elliott Rubio suffered an injury. The redshirt sophomore transfer from Akron is not expected to miss extended time with the Wolverines, who face UT Rio Grande Valley at 7 p.m. MT Saturday in Orem.
“Mitch has been fantastic. We knew he was a very capable goalkeeper. We feel that our goalkeeping corps is the best in the country. We felt very comfortable with Mitch in there; he’s great with his feet and his hands, and he provided great leadership with our first WAC match at home.”
