College Men: Huskies nip Zags in overtime, Redhawks top Cal Poly

SEATTLE - (GoHuskies.com report) After going down 1-0 at the half, the Huskies rallied with a newfound energy to tie the game and force overtime before coming out on top, 2-1 over Gonzaga in the 2012 season opener. MATCH PHOTOS.

MEN’S COLLEGE SCOREBOARD: Seattle U Redhawks 1:0 Cal Poly

Freshman James Moberg (Windsor, Calif.) assisted both goals in the game. First, the equalizer in the 76th minute by Dylan Tucker-Gangnes (Bainbridge Island, Wash.) and the game-winner in the 97th minute of the first overtime by fellow freshman Ian Lange (Burien, Wash.).

“We showed a lot of character and that’s the first sign of having a really good team,” said head coach Jamie Clark. “We said from day one of preseason that we’re not going to win games early on. We need to find ways to scrap and we did that. I wish we would have done that a little earlier in the first half but maybe it was better to do it this way because they will hopefully learn more from it.”

Both Washington goals were on set pieces off of corner kicks and scored on headers on the far part.

“We put a huge, huge, huge emphasis on set pieces this fall,” Clark added. “The reason why is we know that we aren’t going to play that well for a couple weeks. That’s how you get the cheap goals.”

After a fairly evenly played first half, Gonzaga got a break in the 43rd minute on a loose ball in the box. Both teams were scrambling as James Matern drove the ball to the far post and Clark Phillips was able to deflect it in off of a Husky defender.

UW came out in the second half with a sense of urgency and two quick chances by freshman Josh Heard (Victoria, B.C.). The Huskies outshot Gonzaga 17-9 in the game and were led by Lange with five off of the bench.

“We were disappointed at halftime but at the same time it made us come together,” Clark continued. “If we’re going to do anything special this year, it’s going to be as a collective group. We talked about a deep group coming together. A lot of the guys who made things happen, they weren’t guys who started. It was other guys and there will probably be another five or six guys who will help us on Sunday.”

Michael Gallagher, Bradley McIntosh and Michael Uyehara earned starts in their Husky debuts. Nate Sackeyfio, Moberg, Patrick Pacheco, Lange and Heard also made their first appearances in purple and gold.

Junior goalkeeper Spencer Richey (Seattle, Wash.) made four saves. Ryan Caballero made three saves in goal for Gonzaga.

The Huskies hit the pitch again on Sunday to face Cal Poly at 5 p.m.

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