College of the Canyons are drifted away by the Corsairs

The pressure builds as Corsair goalkeeper, Weston Adkins watches as an attacker sprints toward him with the ball ready to shoot towards goal. The attacker kicks the ball. The ball deflects off the thigh of a Corsair defender, changing the path of the shot towards the upper right corner of the net. Weston launches himself into the air, arms completed stretched. With just the tips of his fingers, he was able to redirect the ball over the crossbar and save the goal.

Weston Adkins recorded his second shutout on the season by not allowing the College of the Canyons to score on Tuesday's day game. The Corsairs beat the visiting College of the Canyon to obtain their fourth win in five matches and maintain their currently undefeated record.

“We have to build our record one game at a time because in soccer it is very difficult to go unblemished but we need to concentrate on the performance and hopefully the results will come," Coach Pierce said.

The pace of the game was rather slow in the first half with neither team creating many chances. The standout moment of the first half was the spectacular save by Corsair goalie, Weston Adkins near the end of the first half to maintain the 0-0 draw into the half.

“It felt great to make a block like that, it really got the team going and set the pace to another level,” Adkins said. “We had solid defense and we definitely had more possession, and at the start of the second half we were determined to get that win.”

Adkins was proud of himself because he had trained extremely hard just to be selected in the lineup and then proved to the coach, that he deserves his spot as starting goalkeeper for the Corsairs.

The momentum of the game shifted in Santa Monica College's favor in the second half. The Corsairs played aggressively while dominating possession. As chance after chance was squandered by the Corsairs, the game remained at a deadlock, until about twenty minutes left in the game. SMC midfielder, Claodio Maalouf, dribbled the ball into the opposing team's 18-yard box. He faked like he was going to dribble left, stepped on the ball with his right foot as he simultaneously spun in the same direction. The Canyon defender tried to stick his foot out and prevent Maalouf from completing his spin move; however, the defender's foot caught Claodio's ankle, causing Claodio to fall. The referee ran over to the scene of the incident, blew his whistle loud and pointed towards the penalty spot.

Claodio Maalouf stepped up to take the penalty shot he had earned for the Corsairs. After taking a deep breath, Claodio slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of the net, giving the Corsairs a 1-0 lead and scored what would turn out to be the lone and only goal of the game.

“We had a good game and we deserved to win that game. I was happy that I was able to make the last second goal in order to win the game," Maalouf said.

After adding yet another win to their streak, the Corsairs feel ready to face the undefeated and three-time conference champion Oxnard College. “We have a good group and we have them at home,” Coach Pierce said. “I believe we have a good chance against them.

The Corsairs will face off against Oxnard today at SMC.