The Pierce College men’s soccer team faced off against the top-ranked Santa Barbara City College at Shepard Stadium on Nov. 10, with a 2-0 victory for the Vaqueros.
The two teams held each other with no goals leading to a 0-0 score at the end of the first half. They played aggressively with the referees giving out eight fouls total from both teams, half of them from Pierce.
Emotions were high as the second half started. A total of four yellow cards were handed to the players, two to each team in the half. The Brahmas were showing a lot of determination this game as a team, according to Pierce co-captain and midfield Gilberto Chavez.
“We were able to be more composed, hold the ball and most of all play as a team,” Chavez said. “I would say this season we struggled coming together as a team. But today, I feel like it really showed how much we wanted to die out on that field with our brothers right next to us.”
The defense was dominant for the Brahmas, with Pierce goalkeeper Tony Ramirez having four saves in the second half and five overall.
Ramirez revealed what he appreciated from his team against the Vaqueros.
“I’m proud of the fact that we never gave up throughout the entire game,” Ramirez stated. ”I feel like we lacked confidence and a lot of intensity throughout the last couple of games, leading to the results that we got. But even with the result, I’m proud of what we did today.”
The Brahmas were trying to put up a goal on their scoreboard with 10 shots overall from the team,but none were successful.
Despite the amount of chances that Pierce had, Head Coach Julio Castillo is proud of the effort the team put in and how hard his team worked.
“It’s been tough, but today was the most complete game that we played in the mindset aspect, competition and creativity,” Castillo said.” We created three, four solid opportunities to score. But it didn’t matter whether we got scored on or not, we kept working,”
Castillo shared how well the Brahmas executed his game plan, even against the best team in the conference.
“We were playing the number one team in our conference, so our mindset had to change,” Castillo stated. “We had to compete from the start of the game to the end. I mean, the guys followed the game plan to the dot. They did everything we asked them to do.”
The Brahmas go on the road on Tuesday, Nov. 13 to face off against Allan Hancock, quickly followed by a game against Oxnard at Shepard Stadium, to cap off the regular season.