Lost Chance

Glendora, CA -- After knocking off first place Moorpark College 4-0 last Friday, the Citrus College Men's Soccer team looked like it was going to pick up right where it left off for the first 20 minutes of their home contest with College of the Canyons on Tuesday. Instead the Owls lost a chance to make a move, and couldn't convert on their early offensive dominance in a 3-1 loss.

Citrus came out aggressive. The Owls rattled off 13 shots in the first half, including nine in the first 20 minutes of the contest. Despite controlling the ball and the tempo for that portion of the first half, the Owls were never able to put one in the back of the next as the Cougar defense and keeper Miguel Lopez made play after play.

With the Owls offense often stacked on the Cougar half of the field, Canyons took advantage of all the man power and used a near perfect counter off a corner kick by Citrus to score their first goal in the 29th minute. Less than two minutes later, the Cougars notched another one when they went far post and ripped the back of the net. Seven minutes after that, Canyons had taken any momentum Citrus had and squashed it with a third goal that put the Owls in a big hole.

In the second half, the Owls didn't have as much offensively as they did in the first. Still they outshot 7-3 and took three corners, while Canyons was held without a single one for the entirety of the match. Citrus' only goal of the game came very late, when sophomore Silbestre Valencia headed home a ball with 83 minutes showing on the clock. It was too little too late though, as Citrus fell for the fifth time in six games.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in Western State Conference play. Citrus will try and get back up on their feet this coming Friday, but will have a tall task ahead of them when they take on Santa Barbara City College. First touch is set for 2:00 PM in Santa Barbara.