Offense Erupts as Corsairs Continue Unbeaten Streak

Left Carlos Rincon from the Santa Monica College mens soccer team dribbles the soccer ball around Michael Garcia from the Los Angeles Harbor College mens soccer team in white at corsair field located on the campus of smc on Tuesday September 19th 2017 as SMC hosted Harbor College in a non league soccer match and won 4-1 to remain undefeated this season with a record of 5 wins and 1 tie. Watching on behind the two of them is Garcia's teammate Roberto Gerardo

Left Michal Nowakowski from the Santa Monica College mens soccer team along with Luis Coronado from the Los Angeles Harbor College mens soccer team grab hold of each other as they both battle for the soccer ball at Corsair FIeld located on the campus of Santa Monica College on Tuesday September 20th 2017 as SMC hosted Harbor in a non-conference soccer match in which they won 4-1 to remain undefeated this season as thier moves to 5 wins and 1 tie

Left Jose Cuevas from the Los Angeles Harbor College mens soccer team grab hold Andy Naidu from the Santa Monica College mens soccer team as Nadiu dribbles the soccer ball down field at Corsair Field located on the campus of Santa Monica College on Tuesday September 20th 2017 as SMC hosted Harbor in a non-conference soccer match in which they won 4-1 to remain undefeated this season as thier moves to 5 wins and 1 tie

Left Roberto Gerardo from the Los Angeles Harbor College mens soccer team grabs a hold of Andy Naidu from the Santa Monica College mens soccer team from behind as Naidu chaes after the soccer ball at corsair field located on the campus of smc on Tuesday September 19th 2017 as SMC hosted Harbor College in a non league soccer match and won 4-1 to remain undefeated this season with a record of 5 wins and 1 tie.

* Photo contributed by: Morgan Genser; Courtesy of Santa Monica Mirror.

Carlos Rincon Ignites The Corsairs In Rout To A 4-1 Victory

One on one, goalie against shooter. It was on this penalty kick where sophomore midfielder Carlos Rincon delivered a strike to the upper left corner of the goal, right past the keeper to give his team the lead and ignite the offense.

Physicality and technical play were both on display for the Corsairs Tuesday afternoon, as the Santa Monica College Corsairs (5-0-1) men's soccer team continued their undefeated season with a 4-1 win over the visiting L.A. Harbor College (1-3-3) Seahawks.

"Today, I think we're actually finishing, at least most of our opportunities. We were doing really good offensively, creating chances and all that." Freshman midfielder Giancarlo Canas-Jarquin said.

Early chances hadn't amounted to any Corsair goals, not until Rincon was fouled inside the penalty box in the 27th minute, where he would score the momentous goal.

The Santa Monica Corsairs and their offense started to flow from there. Canas-Jarquin was in the right place in the box at the right time, during the 34th minute he scored SMC's second goal. A very impressive cross pass from sophomore midfielder Chris Negrete landed in the box to set this goal up.

Down 2-0, the Seahawks would counter with a goal of their own, and it came right before halftime. As a cross pass from the right side was headed just out of the reach of sophomore goalkeeper Chris Alcazar in the 44th minute.

Corsairs' coach Tim Pierce recognized his team's offense, but mentioned Harbor's solo goal amongst an aspect his team can improve upon.

"I was a little bit upset with the goal that we conceded right before halftime, we had all the momentum and probably could've been up two or three nothing going into halftime," Pierce said.

The Corsairs had to endure a stretch of high octane offense from Harbor to start the second half, but were then able to increase their lead in the 55th minute. Canas-Jarquin passed the ball over a Seahawk defender onto teammate Andy Naidu, who scored and put his team up 3-1.

Coach Pierce also referred to the 3-1 lead as a time where his team could improve, saying that they should be better in possession and "take ownership of the game."

The Corsairs put the game out of reach in the 70th minute. Freshman midfielder Divine Sumbu, received a pass from Rincon coming down the end line, and scored the team's fourth and final goal.

Amongst all the scoring was a plethora of physical play; bodies sliding and colliding, that would result in four yellow cards being given out this match. Players from both sides left the game with injuries, but neither coach felt that things were out of hand.

"I thought it was a physical game, so it was a tough game to referee," Pierce said. "I thought (the ref) did an okay job, he got the major calls correct."

L.A. Harbor coach Art Caballero said the Corsairs were in mid-season form, and then gave his opinion on the opponent and physical play. "It's typical, I think there's some guys that know each other on both teams so there's a little bit of rivalry. We saw in the game, you make a mistake and they'll make you pay." Caballero said.

"We've got a big game on Friday, very good team in Rio Hondo, but we'll get prepared for that and take it one game at a time, one week at a time," Pierce said. With SMC playing its next match on Friday, Sept. 22, at 4 PM, at Rio Hondo College, the Corsairs will battle to keep their unbeaten streak alive.