Cats and Lancers battle to tie

The Saddleback men's soccer team settled for a 3-3 tie against Pasadena City College on Friday in Pasadena.  The two teams scored five goals in the final 10 minutes of the game in what was a crazy ending.

The game was a tale of two halves, with neither team scoring in the first 45 minutes before the floodgates opened in the second half.  Saddleback opened the scoring in the 53^rd minute when Jefreyn Contreras took a pass from Christoph Lutkemeyer and buried it into the net for a 1-0 lead. 

It looked as if the Bobcats would hold on for the win until the 80^th minute when Christian Villegas headed in a corner kick for Pasadena City to tie the game at 1-1.

The final five minutes of the game turned out to be one of the craziest finishes since Saddleback started playing men's soccer in 2023.  Saddleback looked as if they had scored the potential winning goal in the 85^th minute when Braeden Collins took a ricochet off a corner kick and steered it into the net for a 2-1 lead.  Three minutes later Pasadena City was awarded a penalty shot and Julian Zuniga made good for the Lancers to tie the game at 2-2.

Saddleback again looked as if it had scored the game-winner in the 90^th minute when Collins headed a loose ball in front of the net into the goal for his second goal of the game and a 3-2 lead.  Unfortunately, Pasadena City would again answer in extra time with Josiah Lucio scoring the game-tying goal with no time on the clock.

Pasadena City finished with an 18-12 advantage in shots on goal while the two squads were whistled for a combined 26 fouls. 

Saddleback is now 1-1-1 for the season.  The Bobcats will host Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday night as part of a double-header with the women's team.  Saddleback and Santa Barbara are scheduled to start at 6:30 PM inside the Saddleback Stadium.