The City College men’s soccer team remained undefeated in a 2-1 win against Oxnard College on Friday night at La Playa Stadium.
This game was filled with a lot of shouting towards the referees from both teams and the crowd because of questionable officiating.
“I think it’s mainly the refs. They didn’t have their eyes open,” said Victor Chavez (No. 18).
Chavez is a forward for the Vaqueros who leads the team in points this season.
Oxnard took the lead in the beginning, with a goal scored within two minutes of the first half.
Chavez scored the first goal for City College in the 11th minute of the game with an assist from Sonny Boyoko (No. 26).
A yellow card was given to Ameyawu Muntari (No. 10) in the 40th minute of play.
Zachary Sneddon (No.16) also received a yellow card in the first half of the game marking it his fifth yellow card of the season.
Chavez shot and scored another goal at the end of the first half. Although the referees allowed the goal at first, minutes later the goal was called “offsides.” The scoreboard was changed and the goal was removed.
“My second goal, they didn’t count it and it should have been a goal. If the Oxnard coach didn’t say anything they wouldn’t have called it,” said Chavez.
Head Coach John Sisterson said the referee’s call was unfortunate.
The majority of the crowd booed while some cheered at the call.
The second half continued with a yellow card given to Charlie Kent (No. 14).
The call was met with much backlash from the players and the referee yelled at the players on field to, “be respectful.”
In the 74th minute of the game, Muntari broke the tie for the Vaqueros. After the goal, Muntari took off his jersey, ran behind the goal and did a round-off. He ended with a wave to the audience as they were cheering for him. A red card was pulled on Muntari for excessive celebration.
Sisterson said of Muntari, “He pressured the goalie well [but after the goal] he unfortunately lost his head a little bit.”
Muntari left the field and will have to sit out the next game.
“I think we started off slow but ended up doing good. We worked hard until the 90 minutes were over.” Chavez said.
There was a conflict after the game ended when both teams were on the field. Chavez said it was initiated by the Oxnard team.
“It started with their center back pushing Matty. Matty fell and then everything went crazy,” said Chavez.
Matthew Wilkinson (No. 9) was given a red card at the end of the game. Wilkinson will be the second of the Vaqueros to sit out next game.
Coach Sisterson said Oxnard is a very good team and that it was a good night’s work, but it was unfortunate what happened at the end.
City College will play its next conference game against at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, against LA Mission.
