Reyes’ 3 Goals Beat Seattle Pacific : CSUN Advances to Soccer Playoff Semifinals With 3-2 Victory in Overtime

SEATTLE — Cal State Northridge freshman Bobby Reyes made his first appearance in the NCAA Division II soccer tournament rivalry with Seattle Pacific a memorable one.

Reyes, a freshman out of Culver City High, scored 3 goals--including the game-winner in the eighth minute of overtime--to lift the Matadors to a 3-2 quarterfinal victory Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

With the win, CSUN returns to the tournament’s Final Four and will face the winner of today’s match between Missouri-St. Louis and Oakland (Mich.) University.

Reyes entered the match with only 1 goal to his credit in 21 games, but that changed in a hurry. The deciding goal came at 97:20 as Reyes dribbled down the right sideline and fired a shot from 20 yards that bounced off the shoulder of Seattle defender Chris McDonald and into the upper corner of the net.

Reyes said that the game-winning goal was an accident.

“Actually, it was more of a cross, but the wind took it,” he said. “I guess it was all luck tonight.”

The win, the fifth in a row for the Matadors, snapped a string of 28 consecutive wins at home for Seattle Pacific. The Falcons, led by two-time All-American goalkeeper Jeff Storrs, had allowed just 3 total goals in their past 9 home matches.

Seattle Pacific opened the scoring in the fifth minute on a goal by midfielder Reece Olney from 15 yards. Northridge goalkeeper Jeff Blumkin’s clearance of a corner kick cross went to Olney, who controlled it and put it into the upper right corner of the net.

Northridge answered just 32 seconds later as midfielder Scott Piri sent a cross from the left side to Reyes, who volleyed the ball past Storrs from 12 yards in front of the goal.

Reyes struck again at 10:19, scoring an unassisted goal from 5 yards. Keith Martin’s throw-in struck several players before reaching Reyes in front of the Seattle Pacific goal.

“It’s the first hat trick I’ve scored since I was a kid,” Reyes said. “I was confident I could take my man anytime I wanted.”

The Falcons evened the score, 2-2, on Olney’s second goal. In the 23rd minute, Mark Kovats touched the ball off to Olney for a shot from 8 yards.

Seattle Pacific Coach Cliff McCrath, who has guided the Falcons to 4 national titles, said that his team dominated the match.

“We played well enough to win again and again,” McCrath said. “We just didn’t capitalize on our chances.”

Northridge Coach Marwan Ass’ad agreed.

“I don’t know how we won the game,” he said. “We were outplayed and outpassed, but that’s soccer.”

The 12th-ranked Matadors met No. 3 Seattle Pacific in the quarterfinal round of the tournament for the fourth consecutive year but with a twist this time: The match was played on the artificial turf of Seattle’s Memorial Stadium in front of 1,100 partisan Falcon supporters.

The previous 3 playoff meetings were hosted by Northridge, with Seattle Pacific winning in 1986 and 1987 en route to back-to-back national titles. Northridge won last year’s match-up.