Men's soccer wins sixth game to become third in conference

The Santa Monica Corsair men's soccer team repeated their performance from last month Tuesday afternoon as they ran away from Allan Hancock College, defeating the Bulldogs 5-1. Corsair forward and captain Maurice Morton scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season, but could have stretched the SMC lead in the early going as he had the opportunity to bury a rebound off of a Navas shot but sent it into the waiting mitts of the overworked Bulldog goalkeeper, Austin Wells. He did not miss the second time the ball laid on the goal line.

Corsair sophomore forward Jonathan Navas notched his ninth goal on a penalty kick in the second half as well as an assist as the Corsair front line had their way with the Bulldog defense through out the entire game.

"We have a pretty explosive offense and we have a lot of different guys who can score goals," Corsair head coach Tim Pierce said.

Of the four different goal scorers that tallied on Tuesday afternoon, none may have been more special than redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Patrick Acosta.

At the end of the game, Pierce subbed in Acosta at forward for his first minutes of the season.

Within five minutes the ball fell off the face of a Bulldog centerback, then to Acosta's foot and finally into the back of the net for to salt the wound in the Bulldog side.

"I was like, 'man did that just happen.' It was unreal," Acosta said. "A good way for me to have a solid memory on the field."

Solid may be an understatement, as after the goal the entire Corsair bench mobbed Acosta.

"He's one of the most positive guys on the team and for him to be able to go into the game like this and score after going on for five minutes, I think it's just great," Morton said.

Tuesday's win was the second in a row for the Corsairs and is their sixth overall. With a 6-3-3 record and 21 points, the blue and white sit in third place in the Western State Conference as of print time.

The loss drops Allan Hancock to 1-13-3 overall and 1-9-2 in the WSC.

In a previous version of the story it was incorrectly stated that Jonathan Navas had scored two goals and Maurice Morton had recorded a goal and an assist. It has been corrected.