The Cosumnes River College men’s soccer team turned around their first-half struggles and won 4-2 against Clovis Community College on Tuesday.
Throughout the first half, opportunities to put up points were present for CRC, but rhythm and urgency was lacking. Clovis Community College took advantage of the stalling offense and at the end of the first half, the score was 0-1 Clovis.
“I thought that their speed of play was faster than us,” said Head Coach Ron Preble. “They were competing at a higher level than we were, which we challenged them at halftime.”
Coming back from halftime, the offense continued to struggle and was unable to maximize their opportunities. They gave up the ball and Clovis forward Aramel Villa took a quick shot to the right corner of the goal to put them ahead by two points.
Center back Marco Valdez was visibly frustrated with the lack of energy from the Hawks and constantly urged his teammates to fight to get back into the game.
“Giving away two goals is crucial, especially two down like that,” Valdez said.
The Hawks rallied after the score and midfielder Luis Cruz-Perez earned an assist with a pass to midfielder Brandon Gutierrez who scored with a header.
“I think it gave us the platform to keep going and play hard,” Gutierrez said.
CRC got the ball to Cruz-Perez with a through ball and he took a shot at the right corner of the goal to tie the match up with 20:32 left in the game.
“Like the coaches always tell us, we are our own biggest enemy, and it’s true,” said Cruz-Perez.
With eight minutes left in regulation, striker Jordan Hongphackdy scored with a shot to the right of the goal and CRC took the lead 3-2.
The Hawks continued being aggressive and after a throw-in was passed to Hongphakdy, he took another shot and scored the final point of the match.
Hongphakdy shared his thoughts on the team’s turning point in the match.
“I really think it was just that first goal,” Hongphakdy said. “I think that first goal really initiated everything, like you could just see the tone change.”
The Hawks play their next match on Nov. 1 at 3 p.m. against Folsom Lake College.