Cougars advance to state soccer championships

By Dennis McCall, Taft Midway Driller

Barraza scored the winning goal here Saturday to send Taft College to next week's state community college men's soccer championships.

The Cougars (21-0-2) will seek their second state championship in their fifth trip to the final four, which begins Friday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Taft, the No. 1 northern California seed, will play Cerritos, the No. 2 southern California representative.  Cerritos, which beat Taft for the 2006 state championship, defeated Oxnard on penalty kicks to earn a spot in the state championships while No. 1 SoCal seed Mt. SAC beat Golden West in overtime.  The Mounties will play the De Anza-West Valley winner.

Taft spotted Fresno a 1-0 lead on a free kick by Christian Chaney in the 41st minute, but the Cougars took control of the match in the second half, drawing even three minutes in on a penalty kick by Ramon Chavez.

The game winner came six minutes later when Ruben Alvarez came in from the right side and sent a pass into the middle where Barraza headed the ball past Fresno goalkeeper Cesar Hernandez for his 18th goal of the season.

"Our resilience was the key," said Cougar coach Angelo Cutrona.   "It's never a good feeling at the half to be down 1-0.  We didn't play as well as we should have, so I think we played the second half as though we had nothing to lose.  We had to push the ball forward."

The Cougars did just that, attacking with every possession and keeping the Rams from threatening.

It was Taft's third win over Fresno this season.  The Cougars beat the Rams 2-1 and 3-1 in their two Central Valley Conference meetings.

"It's always a little scary playing a team you've beaten twice," Cutrona said.

The Cougars were jubilant after the final whistle but Fresno not so.  A scuffle broke out but was quickly subdued by coaches and law enforcement.  

Once things settled down the Cougars formed a circle, began jumping  and chanting "Final Four."

The Cougars may have lost starting forward Axel Cruz, a freshman from Cesar Chavez High, to a leg injury in the first half.  Cruz was carted off the field and sent to a hospital with a possible broken leg.

However, they will get the services of forward Oscar Torres, who had to sit out because of being disqualified in the quarterfinal win over Hartnell with two yellow cards.

Read more: http://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/article/20141130/News/141139999#ixzz3KfQUsSUo

Photo by Doug Keeler