Men's Soccer: SMC Knocks Out Chaffey College In First Round

Santa Monica College comes out with a 2-0 victory over Chaffey College in first round of playoffs. The SMC men’s soccer team now advances to the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs to play Santa Ana College in an away game.

Santa Monica College Corsairs men’s soccer team, forward, Eto Atiabet ghts off three defenders from Chaffey college during playoff game at the Corsair eld in Santa Monica California on November 17, 2018.The Corsairs went on to win the game 2-0. (Dylan Cortez/ Corsair Staff)

On Saturday, November 17, Santa Monica College (SMC) took the field against well respected Chaffey College in the first round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs. This was one of those games that kept you in your seat for all 90 minutes. The Corsairs instantly made their presence known scoring their first goal in just five minutes. This was only Sophomore Yoel Cohavy’s fifth goal of the season and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The goal put a chip on Chaffey’s shoulder early in the game. This became very evident when yellow cards seemed to be handed out every few minutes. This would later result in a double yellow card (which turns to red) for Chaffey’s #25 Ivan Macias for a dirty tackle followed by an unnecessary remark to the official. The last time the Corsairs played Chaffey was early in the pre-season which ended in a 4-0 win for the Corsairs. The Corsairs came into this game knowing it was not going to be a walk in the park, Head Coach Tim Pierce says “[Chaffey] is very motivated, very organized and is a very talented team and they came at us in wave but our goal keeper was fantastic which was the difference maker in the game.” This was no understatement, Freshman goalkeeper #1 Aydin Kose has kept 14 different teams from scoring on the Corsairs this season. Kose says “its a team game, we played really good today. We defended really good today, sometimes I make saves but sometimes they save me.”

Santa Monica College Corsairs men’s soccer team,mid elder, Alec Mclendon crosses ball against Chaffey college during playoff game at the Corsair eld inSanta Monica California on November 17, 2018. The Corsairs went on to win the game 2-0. (Dylan Cortez/ Corsair Staff)

Kose is an international student from Sakarya, Turkey and plays with a certain swagger that everyone respects. The four shots taken on Kose were definite goals if it was not for him diving around the box to block them. One of these shots on goal was very controversial, Chaffey’s team and staff all believed the ball crossed the goal line but the referees disagreed.  The whole game came to a stop for around five minutes as both sides pleaded their cases. This call was extremely emotional for Chaffey and made their team even more frustrated. The Corsairs would respond to this just a few minutes later with a goal from Sophomore captain No. 7 Narciso Cervantes. This second goal would pretty much end the game mentally for Chaffey. Shoulders began to shrug and chins began to fall as they knew their season was coming to an end. Coach Pierce claims “good teams sometimes win when they’re not exactly performing their best” because he felt as if his team could have still played better.

The Corsairs will move on to round two of the playoffs on Tuesday, November 20, to play Santa Ana College away. Santa Ana finished their season 11-3-5 and won their first playoff game against LA Mission College 3-1. Santa Ana is currently ranked #12 in state according to the California Community College Athletic Association and will be a tough team to beat.