The Glendale Men’s soccer team came close to scoring a 2-0 shut out over Citrus College on Oct. 15 at Sartoris field. Unfortunately, the Fighting Owls scored a last minute goal making the final score 2-1.
Citrus sophomore, Jeff Lopez attempted the first goal of the night at the five-minute mark of the first half. Shortly thereafter, Citrus midfielder Kevin Goodman missed a second attempt. Both shots were saved by Glendale’s starting goalie Edwin Cabrera. Lopez won the first corner kick, but missed the shot.
Glendale’s Hans Cabrera took the Vaqueros’ first shot on goal of the night, but missed. Freshman Jonathan Torres attempted the next shot at 35 minutes into the first half. The fifth goal attempt of the half came from Citrus midfielder, Jose Garces, which also missed. Yader Arita, took Glendale’s first free kick at 44 minutes in after freshman Otar Chikhradze got shoved, but Arita missed the shot and the first half ended.
During the first half, things looked bleak for the Vaqueros as the team rarely kept the ball on Citrus’ side of the field and hardly made any goal attempts. Things started turning around though for the Vaq’s in the dramatic second half.
GCC’s first attempt at a second half goal was made by sophomore Jason Acosta at the 12-minute mark. Freshman Gustavo Gomez saved a shot by Citrus midfielder, Martin Ramirez at the 20-minute mark. The Vaqueros kept rushing toward the Citrus goalie and Acosta tried scoring again by using a header at 21 minutes in, but missed. Jeffrey Earle scored Glendale’s first goal of the match at the 23-minute mark.
Acosta scored the second goal for the Vaqueros from the 40-yard line at 33 minutes in as Glendale went up 2-0.
After the Vaqueros’ second goal, fouls and yellow cards abounded. Acosta got tripped by Citrus freshman, Sergio Valencia at 35 minutes. Another Citrus defenseman, Ramon Gutierrez, tripped Earle. Glendale was awarded a penalty kick because of the foul, but missed the shot. The fouls didn’t stop there. Citrus’ Billy Bowles tripped Chikhradze at 40 minutes in and the referee gave him a red card, but then switched it to a yellow card instead. “Give him both!” yelled Glendale freshman Ramsey Issa from the bench.
Citrus’ Gutierrez shattered the possibility of a Glendale shutout when he scored a goal at 43 minutes into the second half.
Glendale’s last opportunity to score came at 47 minutes, as Arita crossed to Earle during extra time in a failed attempt.
Vaq freshman Yusepe Garcia credited goalie Cabrera for keeping the score up. “If it wasn’t for Edwin we’d be down 20-0.”
“It would suck if they tied us 2-2” said Issa. But Glendale remained the victors. After they game had finished, all the players shook hands as Glendale got a hero’s welcome from the crowd.
After the game, Vaqueros’ assistant coach Laura Matsumoto said: “During the first half the took their time waking up. Fortunately we have Edwin to keep us in the game and get the job done. I would’ve liked a complete shut out but we had a lapse in the second half. At least we were able to win.”
