Reserves Diego Lazo and Edson Zamarron came up with big plays late in the game and goalie Kristopher Gutierrez made two brilliant saves in the final minute as the Pasadena City College men's soccer team edged host Compton, 2-1, on Tuesday.
The Lancers, ranked #17 in the state, improved to 7-4-2 overall and snapped a 6-match, South Coast Conference winless streak that dated back to last season.
Tied 1-1, Osmar Rojas distributed his second assist of the contest on a lead pass to Lazo, who drove in the winning goal with 16:05 left.
Compton pressured the Lancers over the final few minutes and nearly tied it in the 86th minute. Zamarron, who entered the game only two minutes earlier because starting defender Jordy Aviles was forced to leave with a cut on his hand, twice came to the rescue to first block a point-range attempt by Jhonatan Baltazar, then kicking away a loose ball just in time to prevent a sure Compton goal.
In the final minute, Gutierrez dove to stop a hard roller attempt from the side of the box by Steven Sosa. He followed that with the save of the game as he somehow got his hand on a sidewind blast off the foot of Erick Quevado, who was three yards outside the goalline.
Starters who made a difference were the usual suspects for PCC as Rojas fed Esai Matchan who blasted in his team-leading eighth goal on a breakaway blast 13 minutes into the game for a 1-0 PCC lead. Aviles and Diego Flores were strong in front of Gutierrez while Kareem Browne was a steady force at midfielder. Another backup standout was Nicholas Malooley made several skilled plays in the middle of the field in the second half.
Hard efforts were also turned in by Brian Asaije and Jayson Moyopo Tagne, who both motored the ball upfield to keep a sustained offensive attack at Compton.
"We worked on shooting, finishing and attacking the net in practices coming into this game," said a pleased PCC head coach Gerry Mora. "We had a number of really good scoring opportunities. Fortunately two was enough to give us a win. Having a veteran sophomore like Gutierrez defending the goal has been huge in these tough conference games. We needed this win for our confidence going forward."
Gutierrez finished with five saves and lowered his goals against average to 1.80.
On Friday, Oct. 13, the Lancers host state #1-ranked Cerritos College in a 4 p.m. SCC game at Robinson Stadium.