Despite a playoff appearance last season, The Santa Ana College men’s soccer team is off to a rough and uncharacteristic start with a 0-3 loss to College of the Desert.
After a scrimmage game and a home loss to LA Mission to open the season, the team hoped to turn it around at home against Desert.
“It’s kind of a new team,” said Coach Vasquez. “We have talent all over the place, so we just got to keep working.”
The game appeared to be going in the right direction when midfielder Angel Magdaleno was awarded a penalty kick only 10 minutes into the game.
However, disaster stuck as goaltender Samuel Guzman saved the shot and made a miraculous diving save off a rebounded shot by midfielder Juan Manzano.
The Roadrunner’s bench exploded after the amazing save, taking advantage of the Dons’ shocked defense as they took the ball down the other way to score a minute later.
“We just haven’t gotten our rhythm, our flow,” said head coach Jose Vasquez.
This became a common theme throughout the game, as the Dons dominated in time of possession, but the Roadrunners took advantage of every mistake, forcing breakaways on the other end.
After allowing another breakaway goal, the frustrated Dons went into halftime down 2-0.
Coach Vasquez gave an intense speech to his team at halftime, hoping to strike something within his players.
Despite the tenacity from Santa Ana to control the ball and find opportunities in the second half, none of their attempts broke through as one more goal for Desert closed out the game in a 3-0 shutout.
“We just have to get better offensively,” said Coach Vasquez. “I know we’ve hit a couple in the crossbar and post, but sometimes it’s a little bit of luck too. I think we just have to work a little harder in our final third.”
The Dons will go on a two-game road trip before returning home against San Bernardino Valley on Friday, Sep. 13 at 4 p.m.
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