Glendora, CA (Men's Soccer) -- Citrus College sophomore Eddie Gutierrez scored two goals, including the game winner in the 67th minute, in helping lead the Fighting Owls to a 3-2 upset over Santa Barbara City College on Tuesday afternoon. The game would be the first conference loss this season, for the winningest program in Western State Conference history.
It didn't take long for both teams to get on the board. Santa Barbara notched the first goal of the day when Mark Knight found Waid Ibrahim in the fourth minute to give the Vaqueros an early 1-0 lead. Citrus had a quick answer however, as Eddie Gutierrez recorded the first of his two scores in the seventh minute with a quick strike that tied up the game at 1-1.
After the quick scoring outburst to open the half, both teams went scoreless the rest of the first half. That quickly changed in the second half, when Citrus broke the 1-1 stalemate in the 46th minute, thanks to Alex Tuc's second goal of the season that put Citrus ahead 2-1. With the lead in their hands, Gutierrez would help push the game out of reach with the game winning score off a Carlos Nunez assist.
Santa Barbara would add one more goal in the 70th minute when SBCC's Knight scored off a penalty kick. From there Citrus' defense would buckle down as they shut out Santa Barbara for the final 20 minutes, giving Citrus the upset victory.
With the win Citrus improves to 4-4-2 and 1-1-1 in conference play, while Santa Barbara falls to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in WSC play. With the first game of their three game homestand behind them, Citrus will turn its attention to Allan Hancock. The Bulldogs will come to Citrus stadium this Friday for a 3:00 PM match-up.
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