MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - Following a three and a half hour weather delay, the University of California, Merced men's soccer team fell 3-0 to fifth-ranked St. Thomas University in the NAIA National Championship Opening Round on Thursday night.

UC Merced's trip to the national tournament was their fifth straight and they saw their season come to a close with a 14-5 overall record. The 14 wins is good for the second most in program history.

St. Thomas scored all three of its goals in the second half, including two in the first ten minutes by Sun Conference Player of the Year Fernando Arzeno. Arzeno's first goal was a header from the left side of the goal box after a long ball was sent in from roughly 35 yards out. The header also stood as the game-winner.

Arzeno doubled his team's lead with a sliding score from the other side of the goal box in the 53rd minute. Both his goals were assisted. 

St. Thomas' Mark Oghogho added an unassisted insurance goal in the 85th minute.

UC Merced was outshot 14-3 in the loss and earned just one corner kick compared to the opponent's nine.

Ricky Rosas, Cristian Gaona and Kevin Capetillo took a shot each for UC Merced. Gaona was responsible for the Bobcats first shot which came in the 35th minute. UC Merced was whistled for offsides a couple times prior to the first shot.

Marco Sobrevilla made six saves, the most by any UC Merced goalkeeper in a NAIA National Tournament match. The previous record was five, originally set by David Hernandez in 2018.

Sobrevilla stopped four shots in the first half to keep the game scoreless going into the locker rooms. With his efforts, UC Merced has held their opponent scoreless in the first half in five straight NAIA National Championship Opening Round games.

St. Thomas and UC Merced combined to commit 26 fouls on Thursday, 14 of which were whistled against the fifth-ranked team in the nation. There were also three cautions.

St. Thomas' All-Sun Conference First Team goalkeeper Franco Acerbi made two saves to earn his seventh shutout of the year. 

To stay up to date on everything UC Merced men's soccer in the offseason, follow @UCMercedMSOC on Twitter and Instagram.