PHOTO & STORY BY: CRISTIAN SANDOVAL
Cypress defeats Santa Ana College 3-1.
In a game where the Chargers were looking for their third win a row, Cypress College Athletics and the Cypress College Queer Straight Alliance Club came together to host the Chargers first-ever pride game in honor of coming out day.
After a big win versus the Rustlers, the Chargers stand in third place of the Orange Empire Conference with a record of 8-1-1.
In the first two minutes of the game, Cypress had their first opportunity of the game following freshman forward Abigail Morales solo run through the right side of the field but her shot in front of the goal was denied by sophomore forward Wendy Millan.
In the sixth minute mark, the Chargers opened up the scoreboard after a cross from freshman midfielder Celine Gehrig from the right side, and it was freshman forward Carisia Raygoza who was able to make contact with her right foot to get it past the Dons freshman goalkeeper Stephanie Tamayo for the Chargers first goal of the game.
Cypress wasted no time in trying to add to their lead, and two minutes after going up in the scoreboard, sophomore defender Presli Dillon long throw-in from the right side positioned Gehrig right in front of the goal but her shot was denied by Tamayo.
Cypress’ sophomore midfielder Christine Duarte added another chance for the Chargers in the 11th minute of the game after a great through ball on the ground by Gehrig that left Duarte one-on-one versus Tamayo, but once again it was Tamayo that came up with a big save for the Dons.
Gehrig made her presence felt again for the Chargers after being able to release a shot just from the outside of the box, but luckily for Dons, Gehrigs’ shot hit the post, keeping the game in close range for Santa Ana College.
The Chargers completely dominated the first half, and had 14 shots, but only went into half-time leading 1-0, leaving a little bit of frustration down in the sidelines.
“It’s always frustrating to get to the goal and have services and the simple finishes aren’t finished. So yeah it’s very frustrating. Those take a lot of work, a lot of effort to get there,” said Cypress Head Coach Erick Hurtarte.
Around the 56th minute mark, the game took a turn, as the match official had to postpone the second half of the game due to lightning around the Cypress area. The game was finally able to resume after both teams waited for more than an hour for things to get cleared.
In the 59th minute of the game, just a couple minutes after the game had resumed, the Chargers secured their second goal of the game after freshman midfielder Samantha Armenta was able to released a shot from outside box but unfortunately for the Dons, the ball took a slight deflection from one of their defenders that completely misguided Tamayo vision of the ball.
With less than 20 minutes to go, the game quickly shifted as Santa Ana were able to get themselves up in the scoreboard in the 73rd minute of the game, following Millans’ brilliant shot from outside the box and the Dons forward was able to place her shot beyond the Chargers sophomore goalkeeper Jade Bernardos’ reach.
The Dons gained momentum, and three minutes later, again it was Millan that had an opportunity to tie the game for Santa Ana after Millan was able to dribble her way into the Chargers box from the right side but her shot in front of the goal was remarkably denied by Ortiz to keep the Chargers up in the game.
In the 90th minute of the game, the Chargers were awarded a penalty kick after Duarte was fouled inside the box, and it was Ortiz who stepped up to score her third goal of the season and Cypress’ third and final goal of the game.
Despite a rough second half, the Chargers were able to secure their third win in a row.
“We pushed through it. We grinded to a not so stellar performance and got the W and get back out here tomorrow and fix it and ride the ship again,” said Hurtarte.
Next Up: The Chargers will visit Orange Coast College on Friday Oct. 14 at 3 p.m.
