Cats plead the fifth

The Saddleback men's soccer team picked up its fifth win of the season with a 3-1 victory over Santa Ana College on Wednesday inside the stadium.  The Bobcats finish the regular season on Friday by hosting Santiago Canyon College.

Saddleback and Santa Ana both entered the game in the bottom half of the standings as the Bobcats were trying to hold off the Dons for fifth place in the Orange Empire Conference standings.  Saddleback was also looking for revenge after letting a lead slip away at Santa Ana earlier in the season when they had to settle for a tie.

Saddleback outplayed Santa Ana in the opening half as they came out and outshot the Dons 7-2 in the opening 45 minutes on Friday.  The Bobcats scored the lone goal of the half when Jefreyn Contreras rang the bell for his eighth goal of the season during injury time. 

Santa Ana answered in the opening minute of the second half as Aiden Cisneros slipped a ball by Saddleback keeper Cam Caveney to even the score at 1-1, thus bringing back memories of the lead that had slipped away in mid-October.

Saddleback, however, was determined to flip the script on the Dons.  The Bobcats answered with a goal of their own in the 53^rd minute when Jason Starcks slipped a ball through the defense on to the foot of Contreras, who danced around an onrushing keeper and beat the last line of defense to the goal for his second goal of the game. 

Saddleback added an insurance goal in the 70^th minute as Diego de la Riva  was on the receiving end of a beautiful pass from Ayden DeRosier and proceeded to beat the goalkeeper to the right for his fourth goal of the season. 

Saddleback finished the game with a 13-5 advantage in total shots and an 8-2 lead in shots on goal.

Saddleback is now 5-12-2 overall and 4-8-1 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats have a two point lead on Santa Ana with one game remaining in conference play.

Saddleback will host Santiago Canyon College on Friday at 3:00 PM inside the stadium.