Troy Barnes

SMC Corsair Sports Columnist

September 2, 2016

When rivals clash, the battle is more often than not arduous and savage; and sometimes the best choice in battlefield is the pitch.

After a hard fought match against El Camino on our home pitch, the Corsairs settle for a 1-1 tie. Coming off the heels of a 3-0 loss to Glendale on Tuesday, the Corsairs were very hungry for a win, but couldn't materialize that W after giving up a goal with only minutes left in the game.

El Camino's highly physical play on the defensive end seemed to be stymieing the Corsairs offence throughout the first quarter. As SMC got a few good fast breaks, two free kicks, and a corner, no shots seemed to be finding their mark as El Camino kept up the pressure.

Magic can sometimes happen in the locker room and as the second half started, the Corsairs came out with their fangs bared. The defense became more physical and the Corsairs fended off a well set up corner from El Camino.

Dead set on getting their first goal on the board, the Corsairs' offense started to look in-sync and methodical. After a cross got the ball in the box, defender Steven Gomez's put up a header which managed to find midfielder Yarden Amira, who fired his shot off and scored the match's first goal to put SMC in the drivers' seat around the 75th minute.

"The whole game we pressured them together and we were building up a lot. We finally got a good cross in and Steven went up for a header, won it, and I just had to tap it in from there," said Amira.

However, El Camino had other plans and soon mounted a comeback. After two players received yellow cards, El Camino defended away any opportunity SMC had and in the 80th minute, they scored their first goal and tied the game.

With the clock winding down, SMC had to put their foot on the gas to gain their second win of the season. But El Camino's physical play continued, and the Corsairs were unable to close out the game when the final whistles sounded.

"This draw compared to last draw feels a little different. The last draw we were on the road and we scored late to tie it up which is a good road result. Here, we had our goal and we were just trying to see this game out," Coach Tim Pierce said. "We would have obviously liked to get that second goal, but once we scored our one goal we were trying to grind out a one-nil, but didn't quite pull it off."

Without the win, the Corsairs have a lot to think about after this game. "We have to get better at closing out games. We can't give up late second half goals and we have to be more efficient, it doesn't have to be so pretty. You can ugly up the game a little bit, lock down, defend and get the ball forward to make it 2-1. We have to learn from that," Pierce said.

SMC Men's Soccer plays Chaffey College next Friday, September 9th at 4:00 p.m.