On Tuesday, Oct. 22 the Delta College men’s soccer team lost a close game against Merced Junior College 2-1.
The Mustangs started the game slow with the first 10 minutes being 0-0 and no penalties.
In the 15th minute, Merced scored its first goal and Delta picked up a yellow card not too far after.
At the end of the first half, it was 2-0 Merced had four shots on three saves while Delta had two shots with three saves and four yellow cards.
Merced played trap defense meaning the team would try to corner the Mustang player while trying to make a decision.
It worked well in the first half but the Mustangs started to break through the defense and put pressure on Merced, which caused Delta to get more shots up.
Head Coach Josh Bradley reassured confidence in his team after the promising second half.
“It’s all about consistency and effort we need to be consistently possessing the ball and if everyone’s on the same page and showing the same amount of energy on the field we are tough to beat we can beat the best teams in the state we just have to be on the same page,” Bradley said after the game ended.
Delta scored its first goal in the 62nd minute No. 20 Hayden Beier scored and No. 10 Jesus Rios Jr. assisted.
In the post-game huddle, Bradley praised the hustle Delta showed in the second half and said if the team showed that effort throughout the contest they would have a better chance.
Delta’s goalkeeper No. 0 Franco Barba had seven saves and was crucial in Delta’s defensive hold in the second half.
“Our goalkeeper Franco kept us motivated throughout the game we can really see how much effort he was putting in to stop their shots,” said Rios Jr.
In the second half, the Mustangs also had no penalties and Merced had two yellow cards. The game ended with Delta taking six shots.
No. 12 Midfielder Ivan Guerra showed the same confidence as Coach Bradley “Yeah we started out slow but I thought we played well and there was moments even in that first half where we could have had goals.” Guerra said, “I know we can play with the best teams in the conference if we execute what Coach tells us.”
After the loss, Delta moves to 10-5-1 third in the Big 8 Conference.
