Defense leads men's soccer to first win

In their second conference match of the season, the defense for the MiraCosta College men's soccer team came up big as the Spartans captured their first win of the 2016 campaign and remained unbeaten in league action. MiraCosta defeated Southwestern College 1-0 on Tuesday afternoon.

After a number of close calls in each half that nearly put MiraCosta (1-4-2, 1-0-1 PCAC) behind, it was the connection between Cheyne Hausmaninger, Yan Guimaraes Pereira De Moraes and Julio Sanchez which put the Spartans over the top.

In the 84th minute, Sanchez delivered a pass down the line to De Moraes, who then fed Hausmaninger in the box for the easy turn around and score.

Defensively, MiraCosta withstood a flurry of strong shots (five) from Southwestern in the first 30 minutes of action as goalkeeper Luis Briseno made two athletic saves during the stretch and finished with three in the opening frame.

Late in the opening 45 minutes, a hustling MiraCosta defense prevented a Southwestern breakaway with a numbers advantage after back-to-back corner kicks by Freddy Mazariegos to give the Spartans a presence on the offensive end.

In the second half, Southwestern's near misses continued with a shot off the post in the 59th minute and an open look going wide two minute later.

While Southwestern got its fair share of opportunites to get on the board, the Spartans were limited to four shots, all in the second half. Three of those came off the foot of Hausmaninger, who had two breakaway runs go wide before he netted the lone goal of the match.

Southwestern College was previously unbeaten in conference matches and now are 2-1.

Next up, conference play continues as the Spartans head south to battle San Diego City College on Friday, September 23, at 1 p.m. before hosting Imperial Valley College and Cuyamaca College the following week.