‘Eaters’ slow start too much

IRVINE — The No. 21-ranked UC Irvine men’s soccer team knew it was a big game on Wednesday night against Cal State Northridge.

But, in the first half, the visiting Matadors were the only ones who played like it.

Northridge scored two goals in the first nine minutes of the game and won, 4-1, propelling the Matadors (5-3-4, 3-0-2 in conference), with 11 points, into the Big West Conference lead.

UC Irvine (8-3-2, 3-2) drops into a tie for second with UC Santa Barbara, with both teams having nine points. UCSB lost to UC Riverside on Wednesday.

After a five-game winning streak, UC Irvine is 0-2-1 in its last three games.

“We didn’t play up to our potential tonight,” UCI Coach George Kuntz said. “We’ll see how we respond. We have to try to stay positive.”

UCI had its two leading scorers, senior Brad Evans and sophomore Matt Murphy, back against Cal State Northridge. Both players served a one-game suspension in Saturday’s loss at UCSB because they were assessed red cards in a tie with UC Davis.

But that mattered little against a Cal State Northridge team that took control from the start. In the eighth minute, a through ball went to Sunghyun Kim, who beat two UCI defenders and shot. The ball deflected off Anteaters goalie Kenny Schoeni and in, giving the Matadors an early advantage.

Kuntz wanted a hand-ball penalty called on Northridge before the pass, but he didn’t get it.

“It changed the face of the game,” Kuntz said. “As a team that was just coming off a tough week, it was like, ‘Here we go again.’ I think mentally we lost a little bit of focus, then they scored again.”

The second goal, scored in the ninth minute from point-blank range by a sliding Fergie Agwu, came after Ben Cox’s shot was deflected.

“If you look at the goals, they weren’t goals that they really built up on,” Evans said. “They were goals where we just made a bunch of mistakes. The past few games, we’ve came out really flat, and I think they knew that and they capitalized on it.”

The Anteaters appeared lethargic for much of the rest of the half, but had their best first-half chance in the 35th minute.

A pass from UCI’s Kevin Santora went to Evans, who headed it to Anthony Hamilton in front of the net. But Hamilton’s shot was blocked.

The Anteaters came out fired up in the second half, and drew a goal closer in the 60th minute. Murphy’s free kick from just outside the box was deflected to Hamilton in front, who easily tapped it in to cut the deficit to 2-1.

But 11 minutes later, Cal State Northridge’s Sean Franklin scored on a counterattack. Then, in the 84th minute, Taylor Canel’s corner kick went to Cox, who booted it in for the final Northridge goal of the night.

Evans, in particular, had little room to create plays against the Matadors defense.

“Every team is zoned in on our goal scorers, and they’re marked tighter,” Kuntz said. “There’s definitely a bulls-eye on these guys’ backs. We’ve got to do better with dealing with that.”

UCI moved to a three-four-three formation in the second half, bringing a defender up to try to pressure the Matadors. Although the Anteaters outshot Cal State Northridge, 9-4, in the second half, the Matadors used the softer defense to produce its two counterattack goals.

“It’s the price you pay,” Evans said. “We had to throw all our numbers up to try to get that second goal. We had to try it.”

What UC Irvine doesn’t have to do is panic. At the halfway point of the Big West Conference, the Anteaters are tied for second.

“We have to go in with a chip on our shoulder and try to get a rhythm back,” Hamilton said. “We just have to get this game and this past week out of our heads. We have to learn from it, then forget about it and move forward.”