Moorpark men’s soccer took on Antelope Valley on Sept. 17 and looked to build on their previous shutout victory against Compton.
Moorpark scored three goals on Antelope Valley before they were able to answer back with two goals toward the end of the match. The match itself was a very physical battle, as Moorpark received a yellow card and Antelope Valley a red card.
Freshman midfielder Marcel Kamberian spoke about the tough battle Moorpark faced in the home game.
“The team was rough, but that was to be expected at this level,” Kamberian said. “It’s going to happen now; this is where the big boys come to play.”
Offensively, Moorpark was led by freshman midfielder Tony Reyes. Reyes was the first to strike on the day, scoring within the first 10 minutes of the match.
“It doesn’t matter who scores; it’s always got to be a team effort,” said Reyes. “Whoever scores, we got to celebrate it no matter what.”
Kamberian joined in on the action just before the end of the half, scoring a dramatic close-range shot to extend the lead to 2-0. He would score again early in the second half to extend Moorpark’s lead to 3-0 against Antelope Valley.
“This is a team that hasn’t conceded many goals,” said Kamberian. “I think in the past five games it’s only been one, so it’s huge we scored three goals today. It feels great to know that we can put the team at an advantage and give the defense support if they ever were to make mistakes.”
Towards the end of the second half, Antelope Valley scored twice to bring the game to 3-2 and threatened to tie it up. Head Coach Jake Gwin spoke on his team’s mentality throughout the match and explained how important it was to stay consistent.
“I think the mentality was great in the first 75 minutes; I think our mentality really let us down after we were up 3-0 and they had the Red Card,” said Gwin. “We took our foot off the pedal, we should have been smarter the spaces out there and connected passes a little bit more.
Moorpark later lost 1-0 to Norco on Tuesday, Sept. 21, on the road. Moorpark continued their road trip with a 2-0 win against Cypress on Sept. 24. The Raiders play an away game against Pasadena City on Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 2 P.M.
