City College men’s soccer got off to a scorching start and dominated College of the Canyons 3-0 Tuesday night at La Playa Stadium.
The first goal of the game was scored within the first forty seconds and another was scored at the 2:38 mark to get off to a blazing start.
“We came out of the blocks quickly. I can’t remember the last time we’ve scored so fast,” said head coach John Sisterson. “We moved the ball around quickly and got nice rewards from it.”
Sophomore midfielder Carlos Espinoza (No. 7) was largely responsible for the fast start, assisting on the first goal and scoring on the second. He made an instant impact in his first start of the season.
“Off the start I hit Matt running into the box and I knew one-v-one he could finish it,” said Espinoza.
Matthew Wilkinson (No. 9) scored the first goal for the Vaqueros and his fourth on the season. He added on to his night with an assist to Espinoza, as the pair each set each other up in the first few minutes of play.
“We expect to come out well and that’s what we did. We got up two goals early and that third goal killed the game off,” said Sisterson.
In the 62nd minute of the game, defender Hudson Handel (No. 27) crossed the ball over to Victor Chavez (No. 18) who made a move on a defender and put the ball into the back of the net for his team-leading sixth goal of the season.
The Vaqueros defense was stout all night and did not allow a shot on target until the 72nd minute. The Cougars managed just two shots in the first half and finished with six for the game while the Vaqueros launched 16 shots at the opposing goalie.
“We played well, competed well, kept hold of the ball well, and moved forward. We did some real good stuff tonight,” said Sisterson.
With conference play approaching, the Vaqueros know they cannot get ahead of themselves despite the start they have gotten off to.
“We are delighted,” said Sisterson. We’ve got a long way to go and we’ll take each game as it comes, but the boys played very well tonight.”
Freshman Ameyawu Muntari (No. 10) returned to action but did not start after missing the last two games due to a knee injury. Muntari has been a key player for the Vaqueros this season. He has scored four goals and leads the team with five assists.
“We have a great team, but we have to take it game by game,” said Espinoza. “We can’t look ahead but we are looking good right now. We just need to keep playing how we’re playing. If we can, get up ahead in the beginning and just keep playing hard the whole game.”
The Vaqueros improved to 5-0-3 on the season with just one game remaining before conference play begins. College of the Canyons dropped to 2-6 on the season.
City College will travel to play at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, against the Glendale Gauchos in its final game before taking on conference play.
Conference play will begin 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Allan Hancock.
