Bobcats settle for draw against Chargers

The Saddleback men's soccer team rallied from a 0-1 deficit to earn a 1-1 tie with Cypress College on Friday inside the stadium.  The Bobcats had many chances in the final minutes for a win before setting for a draw.

Saddleback controlled play throughout, possessing the ball for a large portion of the game.  However, it was Cypress that struck first when a long lob into the offensive zone ended up on the foot of Isaac Morales, who managed to steer it past Dominic DiFrenna for a lead in the 17^th minute.

Saddleback continued to pressure but had a hard time figuring out the Cypress defense until late in the game.  The Bobcats kept rotating players into the game until the Chargers started to look gassed.  Saddleback finally got the equalizer in the 79^th minute when Alejandro Gonzalez threw a ball forward to Antony Papacharalambous, who buried it into the back of the net for a 1-1 tie.

Saddleback put heavy pressure on the Cypress keeper the rest of the way but couldn't manage to get the go-ahead goal in the final minutes in finishing deadlocked at 1-1.

Saddleback outshot Cypress 20-7 for the game and had a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal.  DiFrenna finished with four saves for the Bobcats in goal.

Saddleback is now 4-2-2 overall and 1-0-1 in Orange Empire Conference play for the season.  The Bobcats are tied with both Santa Ana College and Golden West College for first place in the standings through two games.

Saddleback will try to get back to winning ways on Tuesday with a road game at Golden West.  The Bobcats and Rustlers are scheduled to start at 3:00 PM in Huntington Beach.