SANTA ANA, Calif. - In the 88th minute of Friday's non-conference match against the College of the Desert Roadrunners (5-2-2), the Santa Ana Men's Soccer team gave up a goal that broke a 1-1 tie which resulted in a 2-1 loss for the Dons.
The Dons (3-3-2) were defeated after holding the lead for the majority of the first half and being neck and neck in the second.
Sophomore midfielder Marcelo Aguirre gave SAC the lead in the 11th minute of play after rebounding a shot from Jose Villa and putting into the left corner of the Roadrunner goal.
Both teams had good looks but it was COD that put in the next goal as Elijah Chavez scored in the 54th minute to even things up.
It seemed as though the match would end in a tie with neither team showing that they had the edge but suddenly the Roadrunners took advantage of a good throw in towards the Don goal and put a shot away to escape with a 2-1 victory.
Goalkeeper Jorge Cortes finished the match with seven saves in 75 minutes of play while James Martinez stepped in for the last 15 minutes.
Santa Ana will begin Orange Empire Conference play on Friday, October 1st with a road match against Fullerton (6-3-1, 0-1) at 3:00 p.m.
