MiraCosta battles Mt. San Antonio in 2018 opener but Mounties able to post 3-2 win
OCEANSIDE - The MiraCosta men's soccer season started their season with a non-conference game against state power Mt. San Antonio College. Although the final 3-2 score wasn't in the favor of the home Spartans, the young soccer team showed moments to be excited for the future.
The game started with MiraCosta asserting themselves early. Freshman Lucca Mina made his presence felt in the first ten minutes with a few strong chances while on the attack. Despite decent possession in the early part of the first half Mt. San Antonio scored the first goal of the game at the 18 minute mark on a counter attack. Shortly after the Mounties kept the pressure on with back to back shots. The MiraCosta goalkeeper, Andrew Clayton, stopped both shots for two of his ten saves.
Heron Martinez, a freshman forward, found two shots on goal at the 26th minute and 43rd minute mark but the Spartans were still scoreless going into halftime.
In the second half MiraCosta evened the score with a goal by Nahun Ayala at the 48th minute. The Spartans were even with Mt. SAC for almost fifteen minutes much to a strong defense anchored by Manuel Kariuki, Cameron Kerr and Scott Jones. However a few errors at the 63rd and 66th minutes led to two back to back Mt. SAC goals.
Despite trailing 3-1, late in the game the Spartans continued to pursue the victory. In the 84th minute, following a few strong attacks involving Aman Mikel and Lucca Mina, MiraCosta scored off of a corner kick taken by Anthony Cruz. After a few more frenzied minutes and a penalty that led to a free kick, the referee ended the game. The Spartans finished with a final score of 3-2 but competed with one of the top teams in the state.
MiraCosta will next be in action on Friday at Rio Hondo College at 6PM.
(MiraCosta College Athletics)