MiraCosta Wins Third Playoff Game, Advances to Elite Eight

Mission Viejo, CA - The MiraCosta College men's soccer team continues to make history as they earned a 1-0 win over Saddleback College in the third round of the 3C2A state playoffs. 

Wednesday's game was was a rematch of the first game of the year, where the Spartans earned a 3-1 victory back in August. The Spartan line up, however, was different today than back in August.  After season ending injuries to the entire starting midfield, the MiraCosta line up has shifted and evolved to the finely tuned roster that has won three playoff games in a row and earned a place in the state Elite 8, taking on Cuyamaca College on Saturday. In the middle, Alexander Oregon, Brandon Jeffers, Jonathan Colin, Ricky Toxtle and Anthony Rodriguez controlled the flow of the game.  

The lone goal of the game was scored by Steven Renner, in the 29th minute, assisted by Ricky Toxtle.  MiraCosta continued to defend their 1-0 lead until late in the game when Saddleback had a penalty kick to tie the score.  Goalkeeper Bryan Casteneda saved the penalty kick, just seconds before the referee's whistle sounded to end the game.  Casteneda finished with seven saves for the match, he and Spartan defensive line earned the clean sheet. The defensive line included Dominik Wicks, Leo Ayala, Carlos Garcia, Jack Vazquez and Brett Koser.

Although Renner scored the only goal of the game, the Spartans' attacking players kept the Bobcats under pressure.  Renner, Charaboy Iniestra, Alonso Torres Rojas, Jacob Clark and Luke Adomey all played important minutes for MiraCosta up front.

MiraCosta survives and advances to the next round, facing Cuyamaca College in the Elite Eight in the state.