Furious Second Half Rally Propels Wolverines Past Palomar

Furious Second Half Rally Propels Wolverines Past Palomar

The San Bernardino Valley College men's soccer team found itself in familiar territory at the half of Friday's game against Palomar: down two goals and outshooting their opponent.

But the second 45 minutes were a completely different story.

Fred Zaragoza scored twice and Andrew Quiroz buried the game-winner from about 35 yards out as the Wolverines remained at the top of the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference standings with a 4-2 victory over visiting Palomar.

The Comets got on the board early, when a penalty was called off a corner kick situation. Joel Loera stepped up and put it past Wolverines' goaltender Carlos Murillo in the 22nd minute for a 1-0 lead.

Four minutes later, it was the Comets scoring again, this time on the counter attack. Ronny Rubio took the ball down the right side and crossed it where Tyler Kovacs jumped up and hit a side volley that ripped into the netting for a 2-0 advantage.

Despite the early advantage, it was the Wolverines controling much of the play in the first half, sending 15 shots toward the Palomar goal, hitting at least three goalposts and forcing goaltender Jaime Fournier to make five saves.

The second half was more of the same for the Wolverines, as they put the pressure on the Comets. The Wolverines earned 10 corner kicks in the second half, getting chance after chance before finally breaking through. Fred Zaragoza broke the shutout with a strike through a lane on the left side that curled inside the near post to make it 2-1 in the 59th minute.

Four minutes later, a quick throw-in restart sent the Wolverines in on attack as Jakob Salinas and Tony Vallejo worked a perfect give-and-go through ball with Salinas doing the honors to tie the game.

In the 79th minute, the Wolverines finally took the lead. Quiroz got the ball in the middle of the field, saw a lane and struck the ball into the net from about 35 yards out, bringing San Bernardino Valley all the way back.

Zaragoza finished off the scoring less than two minutes later, as the ball bounced free in the penalty box and he slotted the ball home.