Cougars tie in conference opener, fall to Tahoe
The Lassen College Cougars soccer team began its conference season in Weed, California Friday, Sept. 27 against College of the Siskiyous.
After a long fought battle and a last minute goal the Cougars tied Siskiyous 2-2. The Cougars then headed home to faced off against Lake Tahoe Community College, where the Cougars presented a strong first half but fell in the second 4-1 against Tahoe.
Starting against Siskyous, the Cougars help set the pace of the game with Jose Delgado and Arthur Pancoto playing a great passing game, then Pancoto was able to send it through to Shaun Coyle who at the 3 minute mark sent it into Siskyous goal.
Coming into the end of the first half the Cougars were maintaining the pressure, until Delgado made a play for a goal where the Siskiyous goal keep grabbed the ball and Delgado’s and in the scramble to get out the ref determined Delgado was too aggressive and ejected him from the game, leaving the Cougars down a man.
After the ejection and before the end of the first half, Siskiyous laid the pressure on to sink a goal to the Cougars 1-1.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were fairly uneventful as the Cougars were playing a tough defense game, but Siskiyous managed to break the monotony and come in for the tiebreaker goal off a corner kick to lead against the Cougars 2-1.
The clock was winding down on the second half and with only 30 seconds left Joshua Duncan was able to plant a long pass to the head of Harry McIlhone who flicked the ball into the net to tie the game.
In the late afternoon game against Tahoe, the Cougars were playing a stong defense in the first 10 minutes of the half, with a close goal attempt by Shaun Coyle. But Tahoe made a fast response landing a goal off a corner kick 15 minutes into the first half.
But Cougars took back control of the ball, minimizing their touches and played a strong passing game. Then Monsoor Ahmed received a clean pass by Coyle to land a tiebreaking goal putting the game at 1-1.
Tahoe didn’t relent, as they made two more goals before the end of the first half putting the Cougars down 3-1 leaving the first half.
The second half was a bit of a different story as Tahoe wasn’t able to drive the ball through the middle and had to rely on long balls off on the flanks.
Cougars again went back to a minimal touch game keeping the passes frequent, and keeping Tahoe scrambling.
Cougars then began to suffer some minor injuries, which allowed Tahoe to sweep in for their final goal before the end of the game, finishing 4-1 over the Cougars.
Cougars took on Shasta College Friday, Oct. 4 but results were unavailable at press time.
