SALEM, Ore. - The University of California, Merced men's soccer team has punched its ticket to the NAIA National Championship Final Site. The Bobcats (16-3-2) battled to a 1-1 draw after 110 minutes and then stepped to the penalty stripe and converted six straight kicks to edge Corban University, 1-1 (6-5) at Sparks Field Saturday afternoon to escape the tough Salem Bracket.
The Bobcats, one of the 16 teams remaining in the single-elimination tournament, will continue their season on December 2 at the Orange County Great Park Soccer Stadium.
In order, the six Bobcats to bury their penalty kicks were Ricky Rosas, Andres Lua, Juan Flores, Manuel Romero, Miguel Coronado and Ivan Ceballos. Corban made their first five kicks, but their sixth smacked off the crossbar and the Bobcats won their first ever game by the way of PK's.
Both goals in regulation came midway through the second half.
Le Grand, Calif., native Andres Lua headed in the go-ahead goal on a Miguel Coronado corner kick in the 67th minute. Lua, the first ever Bobcat to score in a national tournament game and second ever Bobcat to score back-to-back days, ups his 2019 total to eleven goals. Coronado heads to Irvine with a career-high eight assists.
Corban netted the equalizer six minutes later after being the victim of a foul inside the box and electing Matheus Giron to hit home the attempt. The foul was one of 27 combined fouls in the match, 13 whistled against UC Merced.
Corban took four shots and were awarded with two corner kicks in the 17 minutes between the PK and the end of regulation, while Prado and Coronado managed to get a shot off for the Bobcats. Marco Sobrevilla was tasked with one save during the stretch on a shot taken by Yuki Onishi.
Both of Corban's corner kicks came in the final two and a half minutes but were well defended by UC Merced.
After a five minute break, Corban outshot the Bobcats 3-0 in the first overtime period and 2-1 in the second overtime period. None of the combined six shots were on target. Juan Flores had the Bobcats lone shot, a header with 85 ticks left before penalty kicks.
Overall, Corban outshot UC Merced 22-8, 4-1 on goal. Offense was hard to come by in the first half but the best chance that Corban did have, Sobrevilla denied with an athletic sliding save. The save came on a shot from one of the countries top players, Camilo Avendano. After controlling a cross, he had a straight shot at what appeared to be an open net until Sobrevilla came out of nowhere for the save.
Francisco Lopez originally kicked off the action with the games first shot in the second minute, the Bobcats only shot until the second half.
Lopez was one six Bobcats to record a shot in the 110 minutes of action. Coronado and Marcos Ceballos shared team-high with two shots.
Sebastian Perez made his national tournament debut and logged 13 minutes, including the final six of regulation.
Rosas and Agustin Guerrero were shown yellow cards, as was Corban's Chadwayne Johnson. UC Merced also received a team yellow card.
Other notables include minutes for Ivan Leon, who started all 20 games last year but has been limited to just six games in 2019 due to an injury.
UC Merced leaves as the winner of the NAIA National Championship Opening Round in Salem and will take on Lindsey Wilson College on Monday, December 2 at the National Championship Final Site in Irvine, Calif. First touch from the Orange County Great Park Stadium is TBA.
