Rio Hondo Men’s Soccer team played their last home conference game in the 1-1 draw against Pasadena City College on Tuesday, November 5. It was a complicated match for Rio Hondo where they had to comeback from behind. A last minute goal from forward Federico Hurtado would save the Roadrunners from defeat.

Bad Start For The Roadrunners 

The Lancers began the mach well in the first 15 minutes of the clash by keeping possession of the ball. But it was Hurtado who nearly gave Rio Hondo the lead after a great long pass from midfielder Christopher Hernandez. But Pasadena goalkeeper Steven Sandoval kept the Lancers breathing with a great save.

Half an hour into the clash, the visitors took the lead through forward Martin Manzanilla. Rio Hondo’s defense was unorganized during set pieces and that cost them to drop their confidence in the first half.  The Lancers almost doubled their lead on a counter attack from forward Byron Vega.

Rio Hondo Starts to React in the Second Half

After a poor first half performance from Rio Hondo, the Roadrunners began to react and dominate the Lancers through out the second half. As time went on, the visitors looked nervous with the ball, so they began to solidify their defense. Rio Hondo were so close to get an equalizer, but Hurtado would send his shot to the crossbar.

Rio Hondo continued to put pressure on the Lancers and showed fight trying to get the equalizer. Pasadena had no choice but to remain in their own half, allowing Rio to build up their game. In the 90th minute, Hurtado finally notched his 10th goal of the season and gave Rio Hondo the equalizer.The last minute of play was full of controversy. Rio Hondo protested for a penalty on midfielder Fernando Guerrero, but the referee judged there was no foul. After the match, Rio Hondo head coach Orlando Brenes spoke out about his team’s performance.

“We play thinking like we can play against anyone and come out with a positive result,” said Brenes. “We can’t get into games mentally, resulting in poor performances unfortunately.”

Meanwhile, Hurtado was happy for scoring his 10th goal of the season with the Roadrunners.

“It felt pretty good, but I am not really an individual type of player I’m more of a team player.” said Hurtado.

Rio Hondo haven’t had the season that they would have wished for. The Roadrunners so far have a record of 5-9-5. Rio Hondo will look to finish their regular season with a win when they visit Mt. San Antonio on Friday, November 8.