The Pasadena City College men's soccer team has finally recovered from a flu bug that recently hit the squad. While still dealing with a few injuries as well, the Lancers stopped a rough, 5-game winless streak in South Coast Conference play with a 4-0 victory over Compton Friday at Robinson Stadium.
The Lancers improved to 10-5-4 overall and 3-4-1 in SCC play, third place in the North Division.
Against Compton, PCC fired 15 shots at the Coyotes' goal to no avail in the first half. But in the second half, the Lancers clicked with all four of their goals starting in the 49th minute. Israel Gonzalez fired a shot that was saved by Compton goalie Alessandro Martinez, but Jouseph Contreras was Jouseph on the spot as he knocked in a rebound for a 1-0 lead.
In the 67th minute, Solemon Alveno-Donofrio sent a through pass to Sebastian Jimenez who swiftly kicked in a roller for a 2-0 advantage. In the 75th minute, David Canales took a cross from Evin Lavarreda and lined in a shot from the center of hte box. In the 84th minute, Alveno-Donofrio rocketed a goal from the 15-yard line on a pass from Cristian Villegas.
Backup goaie Inez Aponte (played last 15 minutes) made three saves in relief of starter Matthew Gilmore (one save, 75 minutes). PCC finished outshooting Compton, 32-10. The Coyotes hit two posts and was robbed on a breakaway save by Aponte that preserved the Lancers' sixth defensive shutout of the season.
"We're trying to get back to our type of game, but we've been playing with a different regular rotation in recent weeks," said PCC head coach Francisco Cantero, who also recovered from the flu last week. "It's tough enough to play against our conference competition, but not being healthy hurt us even more. Right now, we are poised to get back on track and this Compton win was an important step forward."
The Lancers play at Cerritos on Tuesday, Nov. 4 in a 12:30 p.m. kickoff. PCC will then play in the annual SCC Tournament against an opponent to be announced on Friday, Nov. 7.
Jaden Harriman enters the box on a scoring opportunity
