Orem, UTAH —The Utah Valley men's soccer team opened up the season with a 2-0 win over the UC Riverside Highlanders on Thursday night at Clyde Field. Aaron Nixon scored the opening goal for the Wolverines midway through the first half and Ben Ortiz landed the second with just under 15 minutes remaining for a Utah Valley squad that played the final 50 minutes of the match a man down following an altercation in the 40th minute that resulted in two red cards.
"We knew it was gonna be tough, but I told our guys at halftime there was still a goal there for us," said head coach Kyle Beckerman. "I'm just extremely proud of the group's effort and the group's vibe right now. We really needed this and it'll go a long way for us in the future."
Utah Valley got on the board in the 27th minute when Alejandro Silva found Nixon on the edge of the penalty area. The cross was misplayed by UCR keeper Carlos Gonzalez, allowing Nixon to collect his dribble and slot the ball into the bottom right corner.
Jason Smith was put to the test in the 36th minute with the Highlanders on the counterattack. Leopoldo Hernandez received a cross from Diogo Baptista just outside the six-yard box, but Smith slid in just as Hernandez got his shot off and deflected the ball out of harms way.
An altercation in the 40th minute between the Wolverines and Highlanders resulted in Samuel Krommenhoek and Noah Lopez both seeing a red card. Because Krommenhoek was checked into the game at the time of the altercation, Utah Valley had to play the remainder of the match with 10 men. Lopez was on the sideline warming up, which meant the Highlanders could still play with 11 men.
Utah Valley nearly got a second goal in the 67th minute off of a free kick from Silva. Silva's curling ball found Carter Johnson at the far post, but his header caromed off the crossbar and was cleared away.
The Wolverines found their second in the 77th minute when Ura Miura's pass took a deflection and landed at the feet of Ortiz, who fired a shot into the roof of the goal from just outside the six-yard box.
With the win, the Wolverines improve to 9-0-1 all-time in season openers. Up next, Utah Valley hits the road to take on No. 5 Oregon State on Monday, August 29. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MDT and will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.
