| No. 2 seed UC Irvine 0, No. 4 seed UC Davis 0 (UCI wins 8-7 on PK) |
Box Score | UCI Presser | UCD Presser
IRVINE, Calif. -- No. 2 seed UC Irvine captured the 2023 Big West Men’s Soccer Championship with an 8-7 advantage in penalty kicks over No. 4 seed UC Davis, Saturday at Anteater Stadium. The contest will be recorded as a 0-0 tie. It is the fifth Big West Championship title in UC Irvine program history, having won it previously in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013, and first for Anteater head coach Yossi Raz.
With the draw UC Irvine heads to the NCAA Championship with a 9-6-4 overall record. UC Davis ends its season at 9-7-4.
Big West Championship MVP honors went to Anteater senior midfielder Oscar Cervantes.
Neither team could find the net in 90 minutes of regulation and 20 minutes of overtime as the game moved into penalty kick shootout. The Aggies held a 16-13 shot advantage, but the Anteaters had more shots on-goal, 5-1.
The match would not get resolved with the normally allotted five penalty kick attempts as nine rounds were taken. UC Davis had the early advantage after UC Irvine missed its second try, but the Anteaters responded and evened the score in the fourth round as goalkeeper Luke Pruter got a hand on an Aggie attempt.
From there, both sides did not miss for four straight rounds until Pruter made another save by getting a hand on a UC Davis attempt in the ninth round.
The regular season meeting in between these two sides resulted in a 1-0 UC Davis victory at Anteater Stadium. This time, UCI emerged victorious in the title match.
The Anteaters will learn who they will face in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Men's Soccer Championship on Monday, Nov. 13 at 10 a.m. PT in a selection show on NCAA.com.