Santa Rosa Junior College men’s soccer tied Folsom Lake College 1-1 on Nov. 2 at Sunrise Park in Rohnert Park.
The Bear Cubs’ record is now 8-4-4 with three games left until the playoffs.
The Folsom Lake Falcons are in first place in the Big 8 Conference, with a record of 11-1-5. The Falcons’ only loss was to SRJC in a game played Oct.1, with a final score of 2-1.
Sophomore forward Alan Soto was the Bear Cubs’ lone scorer . He scored in the second half during a designed penalty kick play, with an assist by sophomore midfielder Logan Myers.
“Our coach emphasizes set pieces a lot. We practice those all the time, everyday, and today it helped us get our first goal,” Soto said.
Falcons forward Kameron Kascht scored a header in the 88th minute to tie the game.
“Hopefully this game helps us evolve as a team, and know that it’s a 90 minute game and we can’t give up,” Soto said.
The forwards and the defenders played really well according to Soto, who said “it was an 11-man commitment.”
Soto went on to call goalkeeper Emanuel Padilla the “man of the match,” saying he “kept us in the game with three huge saves.”
Padilla lost his voice before the game, which affected his ability to communicate. Alerting the defense of possible scoring threats and organizing his defense were harder for him in this game.
“My voice wasn’t gonna help at all so I had to make up somewhere else,” he said. “I was glad I could make some huge saves for us.”
Even though SRJC beat the Falcons earlier in the season, Padilla knew Folsom Lake would still be a challenge, since they lead the conference.
“We were playing really well in the past couple games so we knew we could play up to their level,” he said.
The Bear Cubs have their final home conference match against San Joaquin Delta at 1 p.m. Friday at Sunrise Park in Rohnert Park.
Padilla said he and his teammates are looking forward to the match.
“Bring the next team up. We’re ready.”
