Historic season comes to a close

The Saddleback men's soccer team saw its playoff run come to an end on Wednesday after a 1-0 loss to MiraCosta College inside the stadium.  The Bobcats finished with 11 wins for the season.

Saddleback was playing just its third playoff game in program history and its first appearance in the regional semifinals.  The Bobcats played well but couldn't find the back of the net in dropping a 1-0 decision.

Saddleback outshot MiraCosta 9-5 for the game and 5-0 in the second half, but an opening-half goal from MiraCosta's Steven Renner in the 30^th minute proved to be the difference maker. 

Saddleback had one last chance when being awarded a penalty shot on the final play of the game but Andrew Jun was denied by Spartan keeper Bryan Castaneda, who guessed right and preserved the win for MiraCosta. 

Saddleback finished the season 11-7-5 overall.  In its first two seasons, Saddleback is 20-12-10 under BJ McNicol.  Despite the disappointing result on the scoreboard on Wednesday, the future looks bright for a program finishing its second year of competition.  The Bobcats were the lone remaining program from the Orange Empire Conference to be playing in the playoffs on Wednesday.