Tie, Tie Again

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Soccer team only had the lead in Tuesday afternoon's contest with visiting Santa Monica College for five minutes, but it didn't make it hurt any less when instead of the win, the Owls had to settled for a tie again. The Corsairs scored in stoppage time, as Citrus and Santa Monica played to a 2-2 tie, the Owls' third in their last five games.

Santa Monica took control of the pitch on Tuesday, taking six shots, to Citrus' one in the first 45 minutes. The Corsairs scored on one of those six when a save by freshman keeper Oswaldo Martinez bounced off his outstretched hands and at the feet of Santa Monica's Tristan Knudsen, who buried it, to make it 1-0 in the 29th minute.

In the second half, Citrus turned the tables on Santa Monica, taking eight shots to the Corsairs' three. Despite the turn in the pace of play in the Owls' favors, it took until the 73rd minute for them to get on the board. Sophomore Shusuke Kajiwara played a deep beautiful ball to far left corner of the field to sophomore Austin Amato, who put the ball at the top of the box and perfectly in the path of sophomore Takuro Kawashima who made hit a no doubter, making it 1-1.

The Owls would strike again a little over ten minutes later in the 85th minute when Kajiwara took a pass from freshman Adrian Vera Pascual at the 25 yard line and drilled a screamer that found the back of the net to make it 2-1. Down to their last few chances, Santa Monica again turned on the afterburners and pressured the Owls in stoppage time. One such trip into Citrus' box resulted in the game tying score for Santa Monica, again off a rebound.

With the tie, Citrus moves to 3-6-4 on the year and 3-2-3 in WSC play. The Owls will be on the road on Friday when they travel to Glendale College for a 7:00 PM showdown.