Box Score ATHERTON, Calif. - Roberto Ceja scored twice and the University of California, Merced men's soccer team beat Menlo College 2-1 in their long-awaited season opener Saturday afternoon at Wunderlich Field.
The Bobcats (1-0) have now won four of their last five season openers and are unbeaten in eight straight true road matches dating back to the 2019 season.
Ceja scored in the 24th and 54th minute to give UC Merced a 2-0 lead over Menlo. Both goals were scored inside the goal box off assists from Kevin Capetillo and Cristian Gaona, respectively.
Ceja is the third player in program history to score twice in a season opener, joining local products Andres Lua (2020) and Cody Golbad (2014).
Alessandro Forte netted the lone Menlo College goal in the 67th minute into the upper right corner, cutting the Bobcats lead in half.
Overall, Menlo outshot the Bobcats 14-9 and 6-4 on target. Menlo failed to record a shot after netting their lone goal.
UC Merced goalkeeper Marco Sobrevilla made four saves in his 30th career start, including two saves in the first two and half minutes. Sobrevilla was forced to dive to his left in order to make the second save and keep Menlo off the board. A Menlo shot banged off the post a few minutes later.
Lua also had a shot that hit off the post early in the contest, his first of a team-high three shots on the day and it helped set up Ceja's goal scoring sequence. Menlo's keeper left the goal to chase the ball off the post, however Capetillo came up with the rebound and took a touch to Ceja, setting him up for the empty net goal.
Shots were hard to come by the remainder of the first half and the lone shot the Bobcats were able to get off was a line drive caught by the Oaks keeper with just a few ticks left on the first half clock.
The Bobcats earned two corner kicks immediately out of intermission and although they weren't able to capitalize on them, head coach Albert Martins' team kept tempo and was able to double the lead less than ten minutes into the second half.
Ceja, positioned near the goalpost, received a cross from Gaona and snuck the soccer ball past the keeper.
Entering Saturday, the Bobcats had won 36 consecutive games dating back to 2016 when taking a 2-0 lead.
The Bobcats defense held strong in order to extend that streak to 37. Although Menlo scored in the 67th minute, Sobrevilla stopped another shot and later directed his backline to successfully defend a corner kick in the closing minutes.
UC Merced had multiple scoring opportunities down the stretch as well with five corner kicks in the final 15 minutes. However, none of the corner kicks resulted in a shot on target.
Capetillo and Juan Flores traded off taking corner kicks.
Overall, the match featured 13 corner kicks with UC Merced earning seven of them. There were also 27 fouls, 15 of them whistled against Menlo College.
Oliver Zamora, Xavier Barajas and Jesus Enriquez made their collegiate debut. Zamora and Barajas earned the start.
Looking ahead, the Bobcats host William Jessup University in their home opener on Saturday, September 11 at 7:00pm.