A Big Rally

Santa Barbara, CA -- After dropping a tough 3-1 loss to College of the Canyons on Tuesday in a match that they thoroughly dominated the first half of, the Citrus College Men's Soccer team could have packed it in. Instead, the Owls got a big rally on Friday when they defeated SoCal #10 Santa Barbara City College 2-1 in Santa Barbara for the first time in program history.

In the first half, it was Santa Barbara who blitzed Citrus. The Vaqueros took eight shots, compared to just three for Citrus. Four of those eight shots were on goal, but freshman keeper Cesar Valverde had one of his best outings of the year, blocking all four of those shots on goal.

In the second half, Citrus picked it up. The Owls would take seven total shots, while holding Santa Barbara to three. Of the seven, two found the back of the net. The first would be a goal by freshman Grayson Iwasaki, his team leading fourth of the year, in the 56th minute that put the Owls up 1-0.

Freshman Shusuke Kajiwara, would later take a pass from freshman Daniel Ortiz and convert it, to put the Owls up 2-0 in the 70th minute. Santa Barbara would score with four minutes left in regulation, but that's all Citrus gave up as they notched the historic victory.

With the win, Citrus improves to 3-6 on the year and 2-3 in Western State Conference play. Citrus will be back at home on Tuesday when they host Allan Hancock College. That match is set for a 2:00 PM start.