Men's soccer settles for a 4-4 tie after Glendale scores late game-tying goal

The Santa Monica College Corsair men’s soccer team settled for a 4-4 tie Tuesday afternoon after the Glendale College Vaqueros snatched away a victory from the Corsair's clutches at the last minute, eliminating them from conference title contention.

With less than 14 minutes to go in the match, Glendale forward Maxwell Trautmann found himself with just the goalie to beat, as he lobbed a chip shot over Santa Monica goalie Westin Adkins, just out of his reach, sealing the tie point, and preventing the Vaqueros from a loss.

“Getting the tie on the road is huge for us, and especially against a great team like Santa Monica,” Vaquero freshman forward Maxwell Trautmann said. “Getting the game-tying goal is a great moral booster for the team going into our last two games of the season, and hopefully we can pull out wins there too.”

The Corsairs got off to a slow start, scoring only one goal in the first half. But in the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Corsairs found themselves with a 3-2 lead thanks to sophomore midfielder Duncan Bochicchio’s two goals.

Despite Bochicchio’s efforts, the Corsairs' defense just couldn’t put the game away, giving up multiple one-goal leads, and eventually allowing Glendale to salvage the game with a tie.

“It definitely feels like a loss. This team is behind us in the standings. We worked our butts off, but we let up some really soft goals. I think the boys played really well today, we just got unlucky,” Bochicchio said.

With the loss and Western State Conference leading Oxnard College Condor's inactivity Tuesday, the Corsairs move to 22 points and a 6-3-4 record in conference play with three games to go. The Condors sit atop the conference at 33 points.

After giving away a tie, only 14 minutes away from victory, not only are SMC’s playoff chances dashed, but so is their momentum on the season.

“It’s a tough one to stomach. Obviously we had some good moments out there, scoring four goals, but we’re just struggling with taking breaks during games, and teams are punishing us for that,” said Corsair head coach Tim Pierce. “On one side of the ball we were fantastic tonight, and on the other side of the ball, we made a lot of mistakes.”

“We have an explosive offense, and in the first half we were a little bit stale. The two goals we scored to start the second half were amazing. We were up 3-2, and then we gave up a pretty poor goal, it was a bad giveaway. So now were looking at 3-3, and after we responded again, they were able to tie it up again. It was kind of one of those games, but it’s been one of those seasons too,” Pierce said.

The Corsairs will try to get back on the winning track this Friday as they travel to L.A. Mission for a 2 p.m. start.