It was a long road to a narrow victory but City College’s men’s soccer team was relentless against Taft College Tuesday afternoon, as the Vaqueros came out on top with a score of 1-0.

Through the first half of the game the Vaqueros’ offense played hard but struggled to make it past the Cougars’ defense.

“I thought we had a number of chances early in the game,” said head coach John Sisterson.

One of these opportunities came in the 24th minute, when City College defender Matthew Wilkinson passed it to his midfielder, Jessie Jimenez, who attempted to shoot the ball in with a header, but was caught by Taft’s goalkeeper, Ricardo Montoy.

City College’s defense was also strong. Taft forward Christian Garcia aimed for the net in the 25th minute but City College defender, Teodoro De Paula Slemenson refused to let his guard down and blocked it from getting past him.

The first and only goal came in at the 30th minute when City College forward Kevin Kwizera scored off of a penalty kick.

Wilkinson was another powerhouse throughout the first half, narrowly missing a corner kick at the 31st minute.

During the second half of the game, the stakes proved to be higher for the Vaqueros, who stepped up their defense as the Cougars shifted their focus to trying to score.

Even so, Kwizera’s attack proved to be a theme throughout most of the game, barely being intercepted in the 71st minute by Taft defender Gonzalo Rolon.

“Kevin did well―I thought he was going to put it away and finish it out with a penalty,” Sisterson said.

“They were solid, but we just waited for them to make mistakes and played off it,” said Jose “Ricky” Abitia, City College freshman defender.

City College will face off against Cypress College on Friday at 7 pm where they’ll hope to dominate the pitch once again.