Nathan Cruz supplied the scoring touch with two goals and goalie Paul Jing, who was a late sub as starting goalie for the contest, was all over the box to cut down opponent scoring chances as the Pasadena City College men's soccer team blanked Orange Coast College, 3-0, Friday at Robinson Stadium.
The Lancers improved to 2-3 while OCC, just named #18 in the sports information CCCSIA state rankings suffered its first loss, now at 2-1-1.
Cruz, a left-foot shooter, scored what proved to be the only goal the Lancers would need with a drive from the 14-yard line that found the right corner of the net in the game's fifth minute. PCC wasn't able to score again until the 78th minute when Martin Manzanilla made a steal at the OCC 30. He sent a lead pass to Danny Vargas who lobbed a perfect ball to Cruz for a header and a 2-0 lead. With less than two minutes remaining, Manzanilla was stoned on a hard blast by the Pirates' goalie Luke Fyvie, but Asher Smith collected the rebound and deposited a short shot in for the final goal.
Jing, PCC's regular starter, was supposed to take the day off with the start going to Andrew Espinoza, but in pre-game warmups Espinoza suffered an injury that prevented him from playing. Jing grabbed his #00 jersey and then had one of his best games of the young season.
Jing made six saves, but it was his alertness in getting to loose balls and outhustling Orange Coast forwards that stood out. Early in the second half, Jing came up big, twice reaching to get to the ball just in time to beat first Ariel Gracida, then Tino Varona on golden scoring chances deep in the box. He stopped *Danny Vargas* (OCC coincidentally has a player of the same name as the Lancers midfielder) on a point blank attempt near the right post in the 65th minute. Two minutes later, Jing dove to his left to make the save on a hard attempt by Jesus Flores.
OCC kept the pressure on and despite the shots advantage being in PCC's favor, 15-12, the Lancers defensive corps stood out in shutting down many potential opponent shots. Defender Erik Perez twice blocked shots just outside the box and Emilio Ramirez, Cameron Montana and Seth Sandoval also played well defensively.
Offensively, Cruz, Manzanilla, Vargas and Smith created a number of strong scoring chances. Jing picked up his second shutout.
On Sept. 7, PCC lost at Glendale, 3-2. The Lancers trailed 2-0 but fought back to tie it on goals by Andy Garcia in the 69th minute (assisted by Vargas) and then Sandoval five minutes later on a set piece from Manzanilla and Garcia. However, the Vaqueros won it on a Danny Martinez goal just moments later.
Coach Gerry Mora's Lancers next play at Antelope Valley College on Tuesday, Sept. 14 in a 4 p.m. non-conference game.