The men’s soccer team came out victorious against the Cañada College Colts in their third game of the season on Sept. 6.
After a tense first half that featured only one goal, scored by CRC freshman midfielder Bernabe Gonzalez, the Hawks opened the second half of the game decisively by scoring three more goals in under 10 minutes.
“We’ve made a big push at being prepared each game and being able to prove each game,” said the Hawks’ head coach Ron Preble. “We’ve put in a lot of work since we started in August, it’s nice to see it pan out now that we’re playing in matches.”
Cañada College provided a stiff offense early on and kept the Hawks on the defensive for much of the first half. Cañada had their best chance when sophomore forward Francy Gomez took the first chance on goal of the game.
Despite this, the Hawks demonstrated a similarly solid defense and reversed the direction of the game after the ball bounced off the top of the Hawks’ goal.
The Hawks scored their first goal soon after,when Gonzales capitalized on a mistake by the Colts. Cañada sophomore goalkeeper Rafa Patino momentarily left the box to cover several approaching Hawks players and Gonzales launched the ball into the net, putting the Hawks up 1-0.
The two teams spent the remainder of the the first 45 minutes in back-and-forth play that
resulted in several chances on goal for both the Colts and the Hawks, but the first half ended with CRC leading 1-0.
The second half of the game started with a bang as CRC took command of the field. After only two minutes of play passed, Hawks’ sophomore defender Demitri Fellines kicked the ball into the goal box, where Hawks’ freshman forward Rigoberto Gomez tapped it into the net.
“It was kinda Demitri’s goal, I just did a little half turn and tipped it into the left side of the goal,” Gomez said.
The Hawks then scored a third time as Gomez assisted CRC freshman defender Alberto Ramos for another goal.
“He [Gomez] passed it to me, I took the ball and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper,” said Ramos. “Gomez shot it to the side, the ball was rolling on the line so I just hit it in.”
The Colts briefly brought the ball back towards the Hawks goal line but CRC abruptly changed its direction.
Ramos and Gomez cooperated again for a counterattack. The two rapidly drove the ball up the middle of the field, and Gomez scored the Hawks’ fourth goal of the game.
The Colts spent the rest of the second half attempting to recoup, but the game was pushed into a stalemate that kept the Colts from any further chances to score. The match ended in a 4-0 win for the Hawks.
The victory comes early in the season for the Hawks, and Preble takes it with cautious optimism.
“It’s really early, so it’s difficult to tell what this means,” Preble said. “We’re delighted with our progress and we know that we have more work to put in.”
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