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Men’s Soccer: Iwasa produces for UCI

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No UC Irvine men’s soccer player has seen more postseason action than Cameron Iwasa.

And only once before had an Anteater produced a more glorious opening half of a postseason appearance than the senior forward executed Thursday night.

Iwasa, a co-captain, celebrated his school-record 11th postseason game by scoring a pair of goals to lead the host Anteaters to a 3-0 victory over UNLV in UCI’s inaugural first-round NCAA Tournament game.

Iwasa rolled a shot from the top of the 18-yard box that caromed off of diving UNLV goalkeeper Ryan Harding in the seventh minute for his first game-winner of the season.

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Iwasa then cashed in Mats Bjurman’s second assist by sending a volley past a charging Harding in the 36th minute to help UCI (15-4-3) advance to Sunday’s second-round clash at No. 6-seeded Stanford (13-2-3) at 5 p.m.

Senior Dennis Martinez finalized the scoring, heading in a Gor Kirakosyan corner kick in the 76th minute. It was Martinez’s sixth goal of the season.

It was the first time all season that a UCI player scored multiple times in a game. And his early tally was the second-quickest strike this season for the ‘Eaters, who only once before in 2014 got on the scoreboard within the first 15 minutes (a fifth-minute goal by Iwasa, from Bjurman, in a 3-2 win at Loyola Marymount on Sept. 18).

Iwasa, who just missed a hat trick when his cross-frame shot was barely deflected wide of the goalpost by Harding in the 73rd minute, has six goals this season, one off his single-season best and one behind team leader Lalo Calzada. Iwasa, who scored 42 goals as a senior at Jesuit High near Sacramento, has 22 goals in his four-year career that includes starting all 66 matches the last three campaigns.

Only once in UCI’s previous six NCAA Tournament games had an Anteater scored two goals – Irving Garcia scored twice in a 3-0 second-round win over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2008.

Only Rafael Macedo, who scored in the seventh minute and again in the 29th minute of a 4-2 triumph over UC Santa Barbara in the 2008 Big West Tournament final, had twice found the net more quickly than Iwasa’s two tallies.

Iwasa had a two-goal game each of the last two seasons for UCI, which had received a first-round bye in its four previous NCAA Tournament appearances.

“We managed to get kind of an early goal and you always want to start the game that way when you can, to make the opposition chase you a little bit,” UCI first-year coach Chris Volk said.

“And, any time we can get a shutout, that speaks volumes for the entire team. [Defense is] a shared responsibility and it’s a shared shutout.”

UCI junior goalkeeper Michael Breslin made four saves to record his ninth shutout of the season, against a Rebels team that had 44 goals coming in, tied for No. 2 in the nation.

Defenders Bryan Breslin, Jack Birkenbeuel, Matt Tilley and Mitchell Alvarez were also solid, while Michael Sperber, Bjurman, Calzada and Kirakosyan held down the midfield, as the Anteaters produced a 13-12 advantage in shots.

It was UCI’s second win over UNLV (14-6-3) this season and the fourth consecutive triumph in the series. UCI handled the Western Athletic Conference champions, who were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 26 years, 4-2, on Sept. 26 in Las Vegas.

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