Undefeated Home Streak Ends for Men’s Soccer
Fouls, miscommunication and several shots off target cost the men’s soccer team Tuesday's game – their first home loss of the season.
On Tuesday, Oct. 18, the Santa Monica College (SMC) Corsairs men's soccer team played at home against the Oxnard College Condors. SMC entered the game with a 12 game undefeated streak, a 5-0-1 home record, 8-1-5 season record, and a 1-0-1 record in the Western State Conference (WSC) North Division Standings. Oxnard entered the game with a stellar 9-1-1 overall record and atop the WSC North Division standings with a 2-0 record. The 0-3 Conference loss dropped the Corsairs down to third place, they were second before the game, in the WSC North standings with a 1-1-1 record and a 5-1-1 record at home.
The game started off a little back and forth between both teams as neither was able to keep the ball long enough to make a solid attack. At the 16-minute mark, Corsairs defender Sebastian Alvarez Luna committed a critical foul outside the box. The foul set up a free kick that allowed Condor Pablo Orozco to center the ball into the box, and Condor Ricardo Zizumbo to header it into the far right corner of the net, just out of the reach of SMC goalie Cesar Gomez. The Condors were up 1-0 to end the first half.
A miscommunication error from two SMC defenders opened up an opportunity for the Condors to score first again in the second half. They did just that with forward Odin Rosten assisting midfielder Danny Orozco for the second Oxnard goal at the 53 minute mark. Six minutes later, SMC conceded another goal to forward Christopher Ramirez, putting the Condors up 3-0. That would end up being the games final results as neither team was able to score in the final 30 minutes of the match.
Gomez reflected postgame on the loss. He touched upon the Condors strong record entering the game, acknowledging the team might have held back a bit and not stuck to the game plan because of it. He knows the team is better than their performance against the Condors and they’re ready to prove that next game, and especially the next home game.
“It’s making me look forward to the next game that we play here, to really show that this isn’t really us,” Gomez said. “It was just one game and at home we’re different”
Midfielder Roey Kivity reflected on the loss as well, looking at it in a positive manner. He wasn’t bothered as he knows SMC is a strong team and they can review game film to see where the team can improve for themselves and to build tactics against other teams and for the next time they play Oxnard. He acknowledged his own errors in the game where he failed to score twice, which could’ve really helped turn the game around. Overall, Kivity isn’t worried at all for himself or his team.
“Let’s keep our emotional state strong. Keep our mindset there and let’s keep on moving forward and try to get these numbers up, said Kivity.
The men’s soccer team's next game is a conference game on Friday, Oct. 21 at the home of the Allan Hancock College Bulldogs at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs currently hold a 1-2 WSC North record. The Corsairs next home game is also a conference game and will be on Tuesday, Oct. 25 against the Moorpark College Raiders, who currently hold a 0-2-1 WSC North record, at 4 p.m.
