MacMurray Sees Red as Tritons Advance : Men’s soccer: Foul draws red card and allows UCSD to gain a berth in the semifinals.

MacMurray’s Bobby Cheung wasn’t apologetic, even though he admitted he allowed UCSD to score four unanswered goals en route to a 4-1 Division III Men’s soccer quarterfinals victory Sunday at UCSD.

Cheung, a sophomore defender, reached up and batted away a shot by UCSD’s Jarret Stevenson that was headed toward the top-left corner of the net early in the second half.

“We practice that and I’ve done it before,” Cheung said.

But never before has he received a red-card ejection for an intentional hand ball.

He did Sunday and as MacMurray was forced to play a man short the rest of the game, UCSD took advantage, getting goals from four players to earn a berth in the semifinals which will get underway this weekend.

UCSD will face No. 1-seeded Ohio Wesleyan in its semifinal, and possibly could play host to the game. UCSD has bid to be the site of the final three games. The site will be determined today.

UCSD could use the home-field advantage. They are weary (midfielder Mike Lodoen tore a hamstring in Saturday’s second-round game, and defender Alex Spain is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered last week). And besides, Ohio Wesleyan will be out for revenge. They lost the championship last year after taking Glassboro State to penalty kicks.

After Cheung’s hand ball, Mike Alberts scored on the ensuing penalty kick to give UCSD a 1-1 tie.

“I was just hoping (goalie Joel Wallace) would save the penalty shot,” Cheung said. “Joel can save almost anything and I thought if he did that, it would have been our turning point.”

Instead, it was UCSD’s.

Ten minutes after Alberts tied it, teammate Todd Curren wandered unmarked into the goal mouth where he came upon a centering pass from Chris Hanssen and booted it in for a 2-1 lead.

Four minutes later, it was Sergio Salvador taking a centering pass 15 yards from the net and drilling it between the posts for a 3-1 lead.

Another five minutes later Brian Bradbury finished the scoring after taking a pass from Alberts in the middle of the box and putting it in the right side of the net.

MacMurray Coach Bill Killen said Cheung wouldn’t have committed the offense if he knew the fine.

“If he knew he would have been ejected, he wouldn’t have done it,” Killen said.

But there were several who disputed that contention, including Cheung.

“The coach tells us to do that,” Cheung said. “He wants us to try to stop the ball from going in anyway we can. If I have to use my hands . . . well I had to and I did.”

UCSD Coach Derek Armstrong said both teams were warned what the consequences of such a foul would be before the game.

“You have to send him off because that would have been a goal otherwise and if we miss the penalty shot, then where’s the justice?” Armstrong asked.