The One That Got Away

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Soccer team let one get away on Tuesday afternoon. The Owls took a 2-1 lead into halftime against visiting College of the Canyons in what amounted to a defacto conference championship game. The Cougars roared back in the second half though, and scored two unanswered goals as Citrus ultimately fell 3-2.

Citrus got off to a bumpy start on Tuesday afternoon, when the Cougars garnered a penalty kick just 16 minutes into the contest. Canyons' Sarah Sager stepped to the ball and promptly buried the PK in the lower left hand corner of the goal to give the Cougars an early 1-0 lead.

The Owls rallied though as they proved to be the aggressor in the first half. Citrus outshot Canyons 6-4 in the first 45 minutes and earned three corners, to the Cougars'' zero. Those corners would prove to be the difference as Citrus' first goal came off a corner, when sophomore Julia Wills sent a perfect ball into the back corner of the box that found the head of freshman Jordyn Haynes. The goal would tie the game up at 1-1 in the 20th minute.

Citrus continued to keep pressure on Canyons, and eventually took the lead seven minutes later. With the ball deep in Canyons territory, freshman Valerie Flores took a throw in and then flicked the ball to just above the box where sophomore Valerie Eyer awaited. Eyer calmly shot the ball and found the back of the net, giving Citrus a 2-1 lead in the 27th minute, an advantage that would last until the second half.

Things began to turn around for Citrus in the 56th minute. The Owls would draw a penalty kick in the box, and sophomore Elizabeth Johnson would step to the ball as she has done the majority of the time for Citrus. Johnson pushed the ball left, but the Canyons keeper guessed correctly and stopped the shot, completly turning the momentum in the favor of Canyons.

Shortly thereafter the Cougars scored in the 59th minute when Sager struck for the second time this time from the top of the box. Four minutes later Canyons had their lead back when Jessica Weber scored from 30 yards out unassisted to give Canyons the win and ultimately the WSC South crown.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 14-2-3 overall and 10-2-1 in WSC South play. All is not lost for the Owls though as they are virtually a lock for the program's first ever post-season berth. Citrus just has to take care of business on Friday in their regular season finale at West LA College. Kick-off is set for 3:00 PM.