Late-game drama turned the tides for City College as they tied Chaffey College 2-2 Tuesday night at La Playa Stadium.
The Vaqueros held a 2-0 lead before conceding two goals to Chaffey in the second half to result in a draw.
“We started off great. We competed very well in the first half and moved the ball nicely,” said City College head coach John Sisterson. “In the second half it started to fall apart a little bit.”
As the game began winding down to the final minutes, Chaffey ramped up the aggressiveness as they looked to tie up the game. In the first minute of extra time (89th minute), City College fouled Chaffey’s Gustavo Chavez in the box.
The foul led to a penalty kick.
“The ref gave the PK three minutes from the end. I couldn’t tell whether it was a PK or not,” Sisterson said. “The ref said he was pushed but the boys are saying he (the Chaffey player) fell over.”
After getting the crucial call late in the game, Chavez launched the penalty kick past Vaquero goalkeeper Shane Pitcock (No. 1) to tie the game at two with a few minutes remaining.
“Giving that PK away I think was a silly, silly call from the ref,” said City College’s Victor Chavez (No. 18). “It was too soft. Way too soft. We’ve just got to learn and go forward from here.”
Chavez assisted on the first goal and scored the second for the Vaqueros. The sophomore leads the team with five goals through the first six games this season.
Sophomore Matthew Wilkinson (No. 9) scored the game’s first goal in the 19th minute after Chavez hit him on target with a high-arching pass through the air. In the 44th minute, Chavez scored a goal of his own after freshman teammate Adrian Gamez (No. 28) threaded the needle between two defenders to find Chavez open in front of the goal.
Despite the good offensive play in the first half, the Vaqueros couldn’t manage to keep up the attack in the second half, getting off just three shot attempts compared to eight in the first half.
“I told them at halftime all we need to do is keep a clean sheet and that didn’t happen. It’s disappointing, but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” said Sisterson.
Chaffey’s first goal came in the 56th minute off of a free kick that was headed strongly into the net by Brian Luna.
After that goal, the Panthers offense came to life and stayed on the attack until the very end.
The absence of Vaquero midfielder Ameyawu Muntari (No. 10) hurt City College Tuesday, as the freshman missed the game due to a knee injury. Muntari came into the night tied with Chavez for the team lead in goals with four. He also leads the team with five assists. Muntari is expected to play Friday after missing just one game.
City College remains undefeated on the season, and is now 3-0-3 after three straight draws. Chaffey is now 4-2-1. The Vaqueros will play 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22 at Victor Valley where they hope to get back into the win column.
“Two goals up it’s disappointing to tie,” said Sisterson. “Chaffey came back. You have to be careful when you’re playing a team like this.”
Give them credit for coming back. We’ve got to look forward to Friday.”
