The San Diego Mesa College men’s soccer team lost 1-0 to Southwestern College on Sept. 27.
The Olympians fought hard, but it was not enough when the final whistle was blown. The Olympians were dealt their first loss of the regular season.
The Olympians started very strong, the chemistry between the players seemed to improve and they created a lot of chances in the first half. The Olympians needed more than chemistry and lacked finishing against Southwestern.
As the first half came to an end Mesa and Southwestern were split at 0-0.
As the second half began, Mesa quickly found themselves in trouble when they conceded a goal. Southwestern forward Jose Lopez scored off a defensive error caused by a bad pass from the Olympians’ defense.
Down 1-0 early in the second half, Mesa found themselves with some work to do. The intensity was rising.
As the game went on the last 20 minutes were combative. Southwestern racked up 4 yellow cards and a red card.
Mesa kept their cool and kept on pushing towards the goal, they had their opportunities but were not able to capitalize on them
As the game ended, Mesa lost 1-0 to Southwestern.
Head coach Ray Talia stated, “We were not creative in the final third, felt like in other games we created more chances.”
When asked about the defensive error that led to Mesa conceding, Talia said, “I talked to the guys. What can we do to learn from this mistake?”
“We just beat the state finalist 2-1 in our last game,” Talia said, reiterating that they are still a good team.
Talia believes his squad needed to be more confident coming into the game and may have underestimated their opponent. Mesa looks to bounce back from this loss and improve as the season progresses.
