Another Blowout for The Corsairs!
In the week of rematches between the Santa Monica College (SMC) Corsairs and the Citrus College Fighting Owls, the men’s soccer team annihilated the Owls with a blowout 7-0, on Thursday Oct. 30 at Corsair Stadium. This marked the second win for the Corsairs against the Owls, following a 2-0 victory on Oct. 14 at Citrus College. With three games remaining in the season, the Corsairs are now 6-0-1 in the Western Conference.
Key players of the game were Corsairs forward Danny Spindler, scoring two goals with two assists, and midfielder Leo Blanchet, following with two out of three goals. The Corsairs’ offense was in complete control throughout the match up, barely allowing the Owls to touch the ball in the first half.
Four minutes into the game, Andy Salazar, Osvaldo Escobedo and Spindler applied heavy pressure on Citrus goalkeeper Hector Arteaga with multiple attempts to score. Freshman Zach Shayne assisted Spindler on the Corsairs’ first goal with a header in front of the net. Spindler scored his second goal of the game shortly after, converting a free kick from a Citrus foul.
Plenty of communication between the outfielders and goalkeeper Greg Georgantellis could be heard from the stands. With that communication, the Corsairs consistently assisted each other up the field to the Owls net. Escobedo was proficient with his defense and ball control, juking past many Citrus defenders before passing it to the next man.
From twenty-eight minutes left on the board to twenty-six minutes, the Corsairs picked up back-to-back goals, bringing the score to 4-0. Freshman forward Kevin Martinez followed up with an assist to captain Omar Nieto, who fired the ball right into the goal, firing up the team's energy. Moments later, Spindler came in with an assist to Blanchet, who made scoring on Arteaga look easy.
Citrus fired their first attempt on goal with 15 minutes remaining in the half, but Georgantellis immediately recovered. The score remained 4-0 going into halftime.
The action continued with both teams' aggressiveness increasing for the second 45-minute half. Citrus midfielder Bruno Flores suffered an ankle injury while attempting to steal the ball from Corsair defender Mike Konzi. Sophomore forward Richard Chanelo also went down for Citrus but eventually returned to the game.
Adrian Garcia received another free penalty kick off of Citrus defenders, bringing the Corsairs lead to 5-0.. The momentum was boosted, and the Corsairs did not let up. Blanchet completed his second goal by bumping in another header. Freshman midfielder Anthony Lopez scored the final point for the Corsairs, blasting the ball from midfield with only a few minutes remaining.
The second-to-last home game for the Corsairs will be Nov. 4 at Corsair Stadium at 12:30 p.m. To find more information on this team or all SMC athletics, visit Sports - Santa Monica College.