Men's Soccer In Gear With 3-1-2 Mark

After going undefeated in its opening four matches, the Pasadena City College men's soccer team suffered its first defeat in a 6-2 loss at College of the Desert on Sept. 9. The Lancers rebounded Tuesday with a 5-1 victory at Orange Coast that gave the squad a 3-1-2 record to date.

At OCC, Juaning Balmelli scored a pair of goals and added an assist while Osmar Rojas had a goal and an assist. Trailing 1-0 after the Pirates scored on a corner kick in the fourth minute, PCC roared back with three goals in the final eight minutes of the first half. Balmelli received a through ball pass from Rojas to drive in the tying goal in the 37th minute.

Less than two minutes later, Santiago Rivera sent an airborne cross pass and Rojas pulled a page from the famous Pele's playbook with an acrobatic bicycle kick goal. Just before the halftime whistle, Balmelli was fouled inside the 18-yard box and found the back of the net on an ensuing penalty kick. 

The Lancers kept it going in the second half as Balmelli found a wide open Jason Moyopo Tagne, who dribbled the final 35 yards on a breakaway goal in the 47th minute. Dominic Avalos closed out the scoring taking a through ball pass from Mike Sampson and finishing for the score. Starting goalie Kristopher Gutierrez played the first 67 minutes and had one save while Chris Morazan made four saves the rest of the way. 

"Juaning had a great performance while Osmar created numerous scoring opportunities," said PCC head coach Gerry Mora. "Diego Flores was holding down our defense, being a leader in back while staying organized. I enjoyed how the group was able to respond from last Friday's loss. We knew we had to step up and make an impact this game. I'm proud of our freshmen working together and stepping up all over the field."

In the loss at COD, Jose Gonzalez scored a goal and added an assist and Titus Medina also picked up his first collegiate goal. 

On Sept. 6 at Glendale, Esai Matchan scored his third goal of the season on a pass by Rojas in the 12th minute but the Vaqueros' Derik Stepanians netted the tying goal in the 43rd minute as PCC settled for a 1-1 tie. Gutierrez made three saves.

PCC next hosts Victor Valley on Friday, Sept. 16 in a 4 p.m. kickoff at Robinson Stadium.