The Clovis Community College men’s soccer team put up a strong effort, but lost 2-1 against Fresno City College at home on Friday, Oct. 27.
The Crush (1-4, 3-10-4), proved its resilience against the more experienced Fresno City College Rams (4-0-1, 12-1-5).
After trailing 1-0 in the first half, the Crush responded in the second half with an equalizer from sophomore Osvaldo Torneo. The Rams, however, answered minutes later with a goal from Manuel Lopez.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys. We had a gameplan to move the ball, combine and build patience and movement. That’s pretty much what we did,” CCC head coach Chad McCarty said.
Despite their best effort, the Crush struggled to slow down Rams’ forward Johnny Rodriguez.
“He commands a lot of attention,” McCarty said. “As opposed to building attacks and playing combination football, they have the ability to just kick it long and [Rodriguez] makes crazy things happen. That’s a credit to him. You have to defend a guy with that much talent for 90 minutes.”
Although he didn’t score any goals in the win, Rodriguez recorded an assist and created many more opportunities for the Rams.
“He made the difference in the game,” McCarty said. “He is head and shoulders the best player on the field.”
While the two teams sit on opposite end of the standings, McCarty is proud of how far his team has come in a short time.
“In regards to performance and effort and our growth– just being a two-year program– I think anybody who watched the game couldn’t tell who was the two-year program vs. the program that has been around for 30 plus years,” McCarty said. “I’m super proud of our team and our growth.”
The Crush will host College of the Sequoias on Tuesday, Oct. 31. The team will then close out the season with consecutive road games, at West Hills Lemoore and at Taft College.
“I’m really happy with where we are at two years into the program,” McCarty said. “We are already competing against a team like Fresno City.”
