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Regis University Athletics

Home of the Regis University Rangers
1
Seattle Pacific SPU (0-2-2, 0-0-0)
2
Winner Regis (CO) Regis (2-3-0, 0-0-0)
Seattle Pacific SPU
(0-2-2, 0-0-0)
1
Final
2
Regis (CO) Regis
(2-3-0, 0-0-0)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Seattle Pacific SPU 0 1 1
Regis (CO) Regis 2 0 2
Taubo goal celebration
Billy Saunders, Regis Athletics
Taubo celebrates his goal in the fourth minute

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | Caty Llamas, Athletics Graduate Assistant

Regis snaps 3-game skid, wins home opener under the lights

DENVER, Colo. – In their first match at home under the lights, the Regis University men's soccer team triumphed over Seattle Pacific University 2-1.

Regis (2-3 overall) snapped their 3-game skid with Thursday's victory against SPU (0-2-2 overall), propelled by two first half goals that proved to be the difference maker.

"I felt like they came out ready to play and obviously it helped that we scored two goals in the first half on some counter attacks by getting behind the ball early and going from there. I mean, credit to the guys, I feel like they weathered the storm well and went through the last 15 minutes with a lot of grit," said Regis men's head soccer coach Taylor Diem.

How It Happened: The Rangers had the magic touch on Thursday, the squad only had four shots to the Falcons' ten in the first half, but two of those shots found the back of the net.

Regis' first goal of the night came in the fourth minute from Elias Taubo off the left foot coming from a beautiful free kick to the top of the 18-yard box by Kevin Cela. Taubo's goal was his first of the season.

Thirty-three minutes later, Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit wanted in on the action and found himself at the end of Sam Gardner's clearance in SPU territory, dodging a defender and netting the ball past a diving Falcon goalkeeper.

"We've always been the team that loves possession, playing in front of the back line, but the defense was playing high lines and we saw there was some space behind there," said Diem. "Great balls played by (Cela and Gardner), but there was more work to be done once they (Taubo and Carlson-Du Toit) got on the end of it. I'm glad we were able to show we can always play possession, but there are times where the game is going to require a little more direct style of play and I thought we did that well today."

In the second half, the Falcons pressed on, hoping to score their first of the match. Their lone goal came off a penalty kick in the 78th minute from Demian Alvarez. The Rangers wasted no time and quickly shut SPU down for the rest of the game.

The big save of the night came in the final minute of the match from Regis' Luca Falagrady. SPU's Aidan Thrall threatened with a well-placed header, but amongst a sea of red and white, Falagrady jumped into the air and stopped Thrall's attempt to level the score.

"That save was massive. Late in the game like that, we always knew Seattle Pacific was going to try to put the ball in dangerous areas," Diem said. "Having a guy like Luca in there with his size and stature gives us a lot of confidence late into the game and in these types of matches."

Up Next: Regis looks to capitalize on their momentum against a Western Washington University team that has yet to drop a match.

"They're a very similar team to Seattle Pacific. They're going to be organized and really hard working. It'll be up to us to replicate the performance if not raise the standard because I think the story for us has been we play Thursday and Sunday it's one thing to get the result on a Thursday but ultimately we have to turn that around and replicate it on Sunday," Diem said. "The weekend's job is not over, we got three points but the goal is obviously to get six points."
 
 
 
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Scoring Summary

Scoring Summary
Scoring Team Scoring Play
03:43
Regis Elias Taubo (1)
Assisted By: Kevin Cela
GOAL by Regis Taubo, Elias Assist by Cela, Kevin.
36:05
Regis Rayhan Carlson-Du Toit (2)
Assisted By: Sam Gardner
GOAL by Regis Carlson-Du Toit, Rayhan Assist by Gardner, Sam.
77:08
SPU Demian Alvarez (1)
SPU Demian Alvarez PENALTY KICK GOAL.

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