Despite losing 2-0 on their home field, Moorpark played strong against Cyprus College on Friday Sept. 9.

Although Moorpark went scoreless, their offense was able to create a number of chances to score. Even with an overall good team effort, the game slipped away from their grasp as Cyprus College scored on them in the first and second half.

“[The defense made] a couple mistakes but that’s being a defender,” said Head Coach, Jake Gwin. “You’ve got to be perfect.”

However, in the beginning of the season, Gwin said that he wanted to work on the team’s defensive skills. Since then, the defense has consistently improved, despite the final outcome against Cyprus College.

Gwin is more focussed on what the team did well, rather than what they did wrong. Throughout the game, the defense looked strong and Gwin is more focussed on the constant improvement he sees.

The team kept Cyprus to one goal the whole first half and only lost one additional goal at the end of the game. Moorpark’s defense kept Cyprus with only 6 shots compared to Moorpark’s 12 shots.

The Raiders also had control of the ball for most of the first half which played a part in limiting Cyprus’ shots as the ball was in Moorpark possession most of the time.

“I would be concerned if we weren’t creating opportunities,” said Gwin.

Danny Robles, 19 years-old, DB noted that the team had a lot of shots and won most of the headers.

Unfortunately, Moorpark wasn’t able to capitalize on their scoring opportunities. Without any goals from the offense, the defense was left pressured to keep Cyprus from scoring. In this regard, Moorpark was successful as Cyprus’ offense had trouble creating opportunities. However, Coach Gwin believes the defense was not to blame for their loss.

“We could have been a little more potent, a little bit more accurate on the offensive end,” said Gwin.

Now, Moorpark just has to capitalize on their scoring opportunities. With the amount of shots they created, scoring goals shouldn’t be a problem once they start to take advantage of those chances.

In the beginning of the season, Gwin said that the team was strong offensively but weak defensively. This game proved the defense has continued to improve week by week.

Away Game Recap – El Camino

Moorpark College lost 2-1 during an away game against El Camino on Wednesday Sept. 13. Jose Gonzalez scored Moorpark’s only goal during the second half of the game.

Moorpark will play their next game on Friday Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. against Glendale College.