Missed Chances

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Men's Soccer team lost their home opener on Friday afternoon 2-1 to visiting Cuyamaca College. The Owls had a number of promising chances, but missed them as they dropped their second contest of the year.

Cuyamaca drew first blood on the day, scoring early in the 36th minute of play. The Owls nearly answered moments later, drawing a penalty kick, but the kick by freshman Shusuke Kajiwara was blocked by Coyote keeper Arvin Yakou constituting the first big miss of the day for the Owls. The Coyotes rallied off the miss and took a authoritative 2-0 lead, after scoring just before the half in the 44th minute.

Trailing by a pair of scores, the Owls began to apply more pressure in the second half. That pressure would lead to a goal for Citrus in the 57th minute. Kajiwara would get his revenge, putting a ball in the back of the next from the top of the box on a rebound to cut the Owls deficit in half. Alas, Citrus would never get any closer.

The Owls' best chance late would come in the 87th minute. Citrus played the ball deep into Cuyamaca territory feeding freshman Antonio Bernal just on the left side of box. Bernal drove deep into the box and had the keeper beat but his shot went across the goal and just missed wide right.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 1-2 on the season. The Owls will try and get back to .500 next Friday when they head east on the 210 to take on Chaffey College. The match is set for a 4:00 PM start.