MARAUDERS REMAIN UNDEFEATED IN CONFERENCE, MOJICA SCORES TWO MORE GOALS

Photo by Bruce Jacobsen

VALENCIA - Finally, the Marauder men's soccer team was able to break through in conference play.

The first three matches of conference play, AVC had a tie with the top three teams (Victor Valley, Glendale and Citrus), however, earned its first victory in conference with a 3-2 victory over rival College of the Canyons, 3-2, Friday afternoon at COC.

"It was an exciting game for a first year program. We traveled to College Of Canyons to play our rival school for an away match against my former mentor, former colleagues and former school that I coached and taught at for five years," AVC head coach Jerry Stupar said. "We knew the match would be physical and that the extrinsic motivation of former high school or club teammates playing against each other would bring a major battle to the field."

Jose Mojica scored two more goals which gave the Marauders (5-5-5, 1-0-3) a 2-1 lead in the first half, and a 3-1 lead to open the second half. Mojica has scored 17 goals this season and ranks fifth in the state in that category. He has scored at least one goal in 11 of the teams 15 games.

John Rodriguez got AVC started with an unassisted goal in the first half at 8:00 giving his team a 1-0 lead. However, only five minutes later the Cougars (5-10-1, 1-3) evened the match following a goal by Aaron Winsick.

The Marauders moved into third place in the Western State Conference-South Division standings behind Victor Valley and Glendale.