The City College men’s soccer team completed an undefeated season and won conference with a 3-2 win against Santa Monica College Thursday night, Nov. 9.
The game had gotten off to a late start because there was a miscommunication with the referees which resulted in the 7 p.m. game not starting until 8:20 p.m. Sisterson said the delay did not affect his team.
Victor Chavez (No. 18) scored in the first three minutes putting City College ahead early.
“From the beginning we started strong and that’s what helped us finish strong,” said Chavez.
Head Coach John Sisterson said it was “definitely a peak shot.”
Santa Monica College scored its first goal in the 25th minute of the game. Jessie Jimenez (No. 8) scored City College’s second goal in the 64th minute.
City College’s last goal was scored by freshman forward Celso Lagunas (No. 34) after he was assisted by Abiodun Akintioye (No. 6). Santa Monica scored in the final minute to cut the lead to one but it was not enough.
Yellow cards were pulled on Akintioye, Jimenez, and Sonny Boyoko (No. 26)
This was a big win for City College because Santa Monica is the only school they have not beaten in conference. This win marks them as undefeated in league and conference champions.
“It was a great way to end our season undefeated,” said Jimenez.
Jimenez, who scored a pivotal goal in the game, said his strategy is to keep calm and stick to the plan. He said it doesn’t matter who scores as long as the team is playing well and staying healthy.
City College previously tied Santa Monica College 0-0 on Oct. 24.
Chavez, who has the most goals this season, said beating Santa Monica was a really big challenge for the team.
“We knew it was going to be hard but we wanted to make sure we finished league undefeated so we just went for it, full strength,” Chavez said.
The energy on the field could be heard from the sidelines as players communicated with their teammates, and expressed their frustrations vocally.
“We kept the energy high, even though their bench was going crazy,” Jimenez said.
He said it felt great to come back and win after previously tieing against Santa Monica 0-0 earlier in conference.
“I feel like we’re the better team. We just needed to put the pieces together and solve how to beat them,” Jimenez added.
After the referee blew the whistle The Vaqueros danced onto the now empty field where the team cheered and chanted, “Ole Ole Ole Ole.”
Sisterson said his team did a fantastic job and that he is so happy about their record.
City College is currently ranked fifth in the state and fourth in the nation.
The team will start playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 18.
