Big Second Half Leads Hawks Past Jaguars in Non-Conference Finale

It was all gas and no breaks in the final non-conference contest for the Santiago Canyon College men's soccer team on Friday morning as they played host to the Southwestern College Jaguars. The Hawks allowed the opening score to trickle into the back of the net in the second minute, but rebounded to score five goals leading to a commanding 5-3 win.

The Hawks were not fazed by their early match woes as they gathered themselves and responded a mere two minutes later compliments of a score in the fourth minute from freshman forward Jorge Garcia Cruz.

It didn't take long until Santiago Canyon snatched the lead as their most potent offensive threat in the form of freshman forward Nick Asam banged one through the posts off a beautiful cross from freshman midfielder Miguel Segovia to grab a 2-1 lead.

Scoring went stale on both sides for the ensuing 40 minutes with sophomore defender Trent Cleboski, sophomore defender Rene Coelle and freshman defender Ricky Walker manning the backline. Freshman midfielder Andrew Marentes contributed to the success as well.

Despite the Hawks' early defensive prowess, Southwestern was able to push a score past freshman goalkeeper Juan Pablo Alvarez leading to a two-all score at halftime.

It was all Santiago Canyon in the second half as Asam notched his second goal in the 52^nd minute. It stemmed from a strong thrown in from sophomore midfielder Wesley Harris, backed by a connecting pass from freshman midfielder Hudson Dare leading to the netter.

Harris followed a minute later by assisting on another score with Dare finding the back of the net. Asam went from scorer to facilitator as well as he worked with Harris to link on the dual assist. SCC capped their scoring in the 60th minue with a Marentes goal leading to a 5-3 win.

Freshman goalkeeper Omar Jarrar (1-0-0) took over the duties between the pipes in the second half and made three clutch saves, two in which he had to leave his feet, leading to five total saves and the victory. Alvarez had a lone save in the first half.

Southwestern outshot SCC, 19-17, but the Hawks made their opportunities count. Asam and Dare led the team with four rips, while Marentes and Harris each bagged a pair.

Asam notched his second multi-score game of the season with two netters to go along with his first assist of the season, while Harris dished out a game-high two assists. He is tied for first on the team is assists with Garcia Cruz.

Dare netted his first goal of the year accompanied by one assist, while Marentes poked in his fourth netter of the season.