Canyons Falls 4-3 to Glendale in WSC Opener

Coming off a big win in its previous outing, College of the Canyons seemed to be on its way to victory yet again on Tuesday before seeing a two-goal lead slip away for an eventual 4-3 loss to Glendale College in the Western State Conference (WSC), South Division opener.

The Cougars (3-9, 0-1) received goals from Ivan Monreal, Joshua Ausherman, and Jamie Ledezma and looked to be in control, but surrendered three unanswered goals to the Vaqueros (2-7-3, 1-0) in the second half.

Canyons opened the contest strong, getting an early scoring opportunity from Ausherman in the first minute. But his header off a beautiful pass from Aaron Winsick found the keeper's hands.

Eight minutes later, the Cougars were able to break through on a broken play as a Vaquero defender crashed into his own goalkeeper, allowing Ausherman to clean up the mess by banking a shot off the near post to open the scoring at 1-0.

The lead was short lived as Glendale's Wilmer Bonilla found himself open in space just three minutes later to knot the score up at 1-1.

The Cougars were back on the offensive in the 14th minutes as Wyatt Barstow-Vradenburg took a free kick and Ledezma unleashed a shot that was initially blocked. But Ledezma cleaned up his own shot by putting the ball in the back of the net, giving the lead back to COC.

COC goalie Justin Socarras made a nice save in the 26th minute, and neither team was able to muster much offense for the rest of the first half.

In the 58th minute, Caesar Dominguez found himself free on a runout, made a move on the defender, and dropped a perfect pass to Monreal who delivered a one-timer for the goal.

The score stayed the same until the 67th minute when Glendale's Fabricio Bonilla found space 11 yards beyond the box and delivered a powerful strike just past the outstretched hands of Socarras for a goal.

One minute later, Yassine Laraichi took a free kick near midfield that got cleared but Wilmer Bonilla drove a shot from 28 yards out for the Vaquero equalizer.

It appeared that the match would end in a 3-3 tie but Glendale was awarded a free kick in the 86th minute, and Fabricio Bonilla netted the game winner. 

COC was able to get off three shots late in the contest, but each one missed the mark.

The Cougars will return to action on Friday, Oct. 13, when they host Victor Valley College. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

— Brandon Johnson/COC Sports Information

—Photo credit Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information