On Nov. 3, the Santa Monica College Corsairs routed the Glendale Community College Vaqueros, maintaining possession and outscoring them.
A few minutes into the game, the Corsairs stole the ball and moved downfield passing to one another. Forward Robert Mejia took a shot that was saved by Vaquero goalkeeper Anthony Nazarians. The Corsairs recovered the ball and passed to right back Sebastian Vargas-Loyola, who scored from about 20 feet out.
On what contributed to the win, Vargas-Loyola said, “I think the chemistry. I think the boys done really well in training. We’ve worked on a lot of things together in training. We’ve bonded really well as a team, so now we know each other the way we play. Everyone’s got a good relationship with each other. It’s good vibes and it’s exciting. We’re ready for the playoffs.”
The Corsairs maintained possession for a few minutes without scoring. Off a fast break, Corsair forward Santiago Viezaga shot, but it was deflected out of bounds by a Vaquero defender. A header missed the goal to the left, then a defender deflected a shot by Mejia.
About 20 minutes into the game, midfielder Anthony Lopez took a shot, saved by Nazarians. Lopez immediately recovered the ball and scored, bringing the score to 2-0.
SMC head coach Tim Pierce believed the early scoring set his team up to dominate.
“We got off to some scoring early,” Pierce said. “I think breaking a team down early. We broke their spirit a little bit, you know.”
“I think some of the early goals really deflated the other team. I don’t want to say they gave up, but you could tell that it took the spirit from them a little bit,” he said.
With about 13 minutes left in the first half, Lopez dodged multiple defenders and scored over Nazarians’ head. A couple of minutes later, Vaquero forward Rafael Arakelian fouled Vargas-Loyola, earning a yellow card.
Soon after, Diaz made a break and passed to Santa Cruz, who scored but was called offside.
With seven minutes left in the half, SMC defender Juan Hermosillo made a fast break and passed to Corsair forward Aydin Leyva, who shot from about 40 feet. The ball went narrowly to the left of Nazarians as he dove, making the score 4-0.
Near the end of the half, the Vaqueros had the ball by the SMC goal, but the Corsairs stole possession and quickly got the ball to defender Juan Hermosillo around midfield. Hermosillo drove the ball toward the goal, dodging two defenders. As he approached the goal from about 30 feet out from the goal, Nazarians dove for the ball and missed.
Hermosillo took the ball toward the open goal and scored, making the score at halftime 5-0 in favor of the Corsairs.
At the start of the second half, possession went back and forth with both teams unable to score. A shot from Santa Cruz was saved by Nazarians, another by Mejia missed to the left of the goal, and one by Franco went over the goal.
About 10 minutes into the second half, a foul was called on Vaquero midfielder Eric Herabedian against midfielder Leo Blanchet. Blanchet took a penalty kick, but sent the ball over the goal. A few minutes later, Blanchet redeemed himself by stealing the ball and passing to Franco, who scored.
The only goal from the Vaqueros came from midfielder Andy Tobar Pimentel when he stole the ball and ran past his defender. Pimentel was one-on-one against SMC goalie Diego Barillas Parades who came out of the net, but Pimentel dodged him and scored.
Pierce was happy with his team’s defensive performance, stating that the opposing team’s only goal was a simple mistake on the Corsairs’ part.
“We limited their shots,” Pierce said. “The one they had we actually miscleared the ball and they went on a break away and scored. It was really kind of a self, we shot ourselves in the foot on that goal. So defensively, I think our best defense was actually good offense, just having a lot of the ball.”
For a few minutes, the Corsairs missed a couple of scoring opportunities. This ended when Diaz was near the goal and passed the ball to Mejia, who scored. Mejia then added an assist to his performance by passing the ball to Leyva, who found the back of the net for the final goal of the game.
Regarding the team’s next steps, Pierce said, “Just continuing to give good habits. Recognize where numerical advantages are and stuff like that, just keep training good habits on when to recognize those moments. More like patience, they need more patience.”