SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Freshman Marely Velazquez Varela scored her second goal of the year early in the second half, but visiting UC Riverside struck for the equalizer with less than two minutes remaining on Wednesday evening, forging a 1-1 draw with Sacramento State at Hornet Soccer Field.
The Hornets moved to 4-3-4 overall on the year and 0-1-2 in The Big West with the result, while the Highlanders picked up their first draw of the season, moving to 2-7-1 overall and 0-2-1 in conference. It was the second time in the last week that Sacramento State has had three points stolen at the death after UC Irvine scored the equalizing goal with 3:04 remaining in a 1-1 draw back on Sept. 23.
The Hornets dominated nearly all facets of the match, out-shooting UC Riverside by a 19-14 count and putting nine of their attempts on frame to just five for the Highlanders. Sacramento State also attempted a season-high 13 corner kicks — the most for the program since the Hornets had 13 against Eastern Washington on Oct. 17, 2008.
The 19 attempts and the nine shots on goal were also the second-highest totals of the year for Sacramento State, trailing the 22 shots overall and 15 shots on goal taken at Fresno State on Sept. 3.
Both teams played to a scoreless draw over the first 45 minutes with UCR goalkeeper KaMia Elliott making seven of her match-high eight saves to keep the Hornets off the board.
Sacramento State was the first on the board just five minutes into the second half as
Candace Ching was able to pluck a ball out of the air off a Riverside goal kick and take a touch before sending a left-footed cross into the box near the top of the six-yard box. That's where Velazquez Varela was able to beat Elliott to the ball and chip it over the Highlander keeper for the 1-0 lead.
The assist for Ching was her third of the year to go with five goals and gave her points in five of the team's last seven matches. Meanwhile, Velazquez Varela scored for the first time since netting the second goal of a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Saint Mary's on Sept. 10.
The Hornets continued to press for a second score, holding UC Riverside to just one shot attempt over the next 20 minutes while taking seven of the next nine shots heading into the 80th minute but came up empty.
Sacramento State's lead lasted all the way until the 88:47 mark when the Highlanders were able to take advantage of a foul on the far side from about 25 yards out. Finley Aghassi sent a ball into the box where teammate Abigail Coppolo was able to literally run on to it unmarked and chest it in at the left post to tie the match.
With time running down, the Hornets were able to force one more corner, but
Raegan Rossi's shot went wide and the horn sounded on the Sacramento State's fourth draw of the season.
Ching and Rossi finished with a team-high four shot attempts each, while
Tierra Pickell added three more, to lead the way. Goalkeeper
Hayley Hartsburg finished with four saves.
Sacramento State closes out the second week of Big West play on the road on Saturday (Oct. 3) at 7 p.m., heading to Southern California to take on Long Beach State. The match will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.
