The Men's Soccer Team scored their first goals in almost a month and held a second half lead before Merritt stormed back with a pair of goals to take a 3-2 lead and the game. An excellent first half and good start to the second stanza was not enough for the Mariners to grab their first win since October 4th.
The first half kicked off as an even affair with neither the Mariners nor the Thunderbirds of Merritt able to earn the early advantage. It remained scoreless until the 38th minute when Cerbelio Rodas pounced on a loose ball in the box and beat the Merritt goalkeeper to give Marin a 1-0 lead. The lead was unfortunately short lived as Merritt bounced back to tie the game just a few minutes later, adding credence to the old soccer adage "a team is most vulnerable just after they've scored." The game entered half time tied up at one goal apiece.
The second half began very well for Marin as Rodas hit a perfect diagonal ball to Henry Mata who shot near post for a 2-1 Marin lead. Merritt, having shown resolve in the first half, continued to pressure the Marin goal and found the equalizer shortly after. With the game tied 2-2, Merritt overwhelmed the Marin defense, scoring the game winning goal with only a few minutes remaining in the match.
Despite the 3-2 loss, Head Coach Jake Morrison was pleased with a majority of the game his team played. "It was a tough game for us. We felt good about our first half performance, and had a terrific start to the second half. But we just lost a bit of our composure on the attacking end and tried to hold on but we didn't finish the game out."
Henry Mata scored his fifth goal of the season while Rodas had his second goal of the year and third assist of the season. William Finnie, the Marin goalkeeper had 10 saves from the 13 Merritt shots.
The Mariners host Yuba College Thursday November 3rd, before traveling to Napa College on Friday, November 4th.