SANTA ANA, Calif. – After a three-game road stint, the Santa Ana College Men's Soccer team hosted Santiago Canyon College in an Orange Empire Conference match on Friday afternoon.
The Dons went into the match tied for second place with Irvine Valley College and just one game away from Golden West College. If the Dons could pull off a win against the Hawks they would reclaim the top spot in the OEC.
Santa Ana started the match with some good opportunities but just couldn't cash in, resulting in the score being 0-0 at halftime.
The second half was quite the opposite, as both teams got their offense going. The Dons struck first in the 46th minute when Christopher Lopez put away his sixth goal of the season. Just ten minutes later, Noe Alvizo put the Dons up 2-0 when he scored off a good ball from Emilio Luengas.
Though the Dons went up by two even after losing a player from a red card, it seemed like it just a matter of time that the Hawks would make their run. The Hawks took advantage of having an extra man on the field and scored their first goal in the 71st minute.
Santa Ana hoped to hold them off with just 10 players on the field but couldn't do so, as the Hawks scored again with just four minutes left to play.
The Dons would have to settle for a 2-2 tie at the end of the match, pushing their overall record to 8-3-5 and conference record to 5-1-4.
On Friday, October 27th the Dons will travel to Irvine Valley for a match that might be for the conference championship. The match is set to begin at 3:00 p.m.
