Four goalscorers found the net for UC Santa Cruz as the Banana Slugs defeated Bethesda 4-1 Monday afternoon on the Lower East Field.
The Banana Slugs improved to 8-5-3 and ran their unbeaten streak to eight games, their longest run since 2010.
It was Senior Day as UC Santa Cruz seniors
Will Barba,
Max Beldner,
Luca Bravo,
Dalton Cleary,
Ishaan Das,
Furio Jacomini,
Michael Skvarna, and
Kian Van der Meer played their last regular season game at home. It took 17 minutes for UC Santa Cruz to get on the board after
Joaquin Greenberg slotted it past the goalkeeper after
Caleb Lee's perfect pass. It was Greenberg's first career goal. The Banana Slugs made it 2-0 just before halftime when
Torin Volkamer headed home Bravo's pass at the far post.
The goals continued in the second half. In the 58th minute, Volkamer stole the ball just past midfield and quickly fed
Acer Cristea, who put it past the goalkeeper to make it 3-0.
Zander Crawford made it 4-0 less than three minutes later when
Derek Uemura had a perfect pass from the UC Santa Cruz half, and Crawford converted his 1-on-1 chance. Bethesda pulled one back in the 78th minute on a free kick just outside the box. The Banana Slugs had a few more chances at the end to finish with an 18-15 shot advantage.Â
Van der Meer had three saves, while
Declan Fee and
Chris Jamrok each had a save in relief.
UC Santa Cruz closes the regular season this weekend with a two-game trip to Los Angeles, starting on Thursday night at La Verne.