A controversial penalty decision in the first half of the game led LBCC men’s soccer to a 1-1 tie against Cuyamaca College on Friday.
In the first half, Cuyamaca College was awarded a penalty in the 30th minute after the referee believed the ball had hit Viking defender, Adrian Acevedo, arm while attempting to block a cross.
The Cuyamaca forward scored the penalty, finishing the shot in the bottom left corner of the goal.
LBCC goalkeeper, Ryan Swan, believed his teammate had his arm down during the play.
“He had his arm down, it was a ball to hand and I asked the referee about the ruling and he said it was a penalty, but I saw his arm was on his side,” said Swan.
In the 82nd minute, the Vikings pushed back as forward Diego Albanez scored with a header from a corner kick.
Swan made one save in the entire match.
In the 2nd half, the Vikings controlled the ball well, taking 12 shots and setting up 3 corners, but only finding the back of the net once.
“I think overall we played well. This was our second game where we controlled the tempo of the game, we moved the ball well from side to side, but at the moment we’re having problems finishing,” said Coach Jorge Reyes.
With the 1-1 draw against Cuyamaca, the Vikings go into pre-season with a record of 1-1-1, losing in their previous match against Taft 1-0, and winning against Chaffey 2-0.
“The next game we will come back even harder. In the last game, we lost 1-0 and should’ve won, in this game, we tied 1-1. We don’t like this type of form so next game we will come back even stronger,” said Swan.
The Vikings play again at Cypress College on September 6th at 3 pm in their 4th pre-season game.