by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 1, 2009 | Student Voice Edited Stories-Fall 2009
Published on October 1, 2009
Dan Lovi
Staff writer
The Moorpark Men’s Soccer team started conference play with a bang, cruising to victory 4-1 over College of the Canyons.
The Raiders attacked the Cougars relentlessly, scoring three goals in the first half to take a commanding lead.
It was the defense, however, that energized the Raiders team. Goalkeeper Barry Uko protected the net with precision deflecting several shots on goal.
The first goal came in the 15th minute from Augustin Cazarez on a free kick outside the penalty box. The second goal was not far behind when forward Gerardo Espinoza danced around his defender and kicked the ball into the corner of the net.
To make matters worse for the Cougars, forward Kevin Staley got free on a breakaway and lobbed the ball into the back of the net during stoppage time, giving the Raiders a 3-0 lead going into halftime.
The Cougars came out blazing in the second half, but the Raiders stayed focused and did not let up.
“They came out with a renewed energy,” said coach Sean Roche. “They had nothing to lose, but our guys matched their energy and aggressiveness.”
Forward Josh Hibbert made the game 4-0 when he broke away from his defender and scored in the 55th minute.
Up 4-0, Roche was able to garner some rest for his starters and get other players some playing time. The Raiders used 21 men in the game, a luxury Roche was happy to afford.
“It’s massive, it’s huge,” Roche said. “And we didn’t lose much 1 through 21.”
The Cougars scored late in the game when the game was out of reach. Defenseman Luis Gutierrez slipped and got hurt, and the Cougars took advantage by scoring while Gutierrez was down.
Gutierrez limped off the field, but is hoping to suit up for the Raiders game this Friday against Glendale College.
Roche believed opening up with a win in conference play was a huge boost, especially in dominating fashion.
“We will have added momentum,” said Roche. “Now that it’s conference play, we cannot afford to lose.”
by Timothy Weisberg | Oct 1, 2009 | Student Voice Edited Stories-Fall 2009
Published on October 1, 2009
Shoaib Najmuddin
Staff writer
The Oxnard College Men’s Soccer team is off to a strong start, defeating the Citrus College Fighting Owls 1-0 in Tuesday afternoon’s Western State Conference opener at Oxnard.
Business was slow for the Condors defensively, as the Fighting Owls could only muster two unsuccessful shot attempts in the first half. As a result, Oxnard found itself on the offensive end of the field for nearly the entire game.
Condor Head Coach Ross Greaney said that Citrus College’s lack of offense had more to do with its own defense than it did with his team’s defense.
“We have been scoring a lot in games and [the Fighting Owls] knew that,” said Greaney. “They sat back near their own goal as a sort of defensive strategy.”
Focusing on defense, Citrus College was able to hand Oxnard College a scoreless first half. The second half was much like the first but the Condors slowly became increasingly frustrated as 12 of their scoring opportunities were either missed or blocked by Fighting Owl goal keeper Tery Mitchell.
With time winding down Oxnard College was desperate for a score. Four minutes remained when Condor midfielder Albert Anguiano drove the ball behind Mitchell for a game-winning goal.
Although the game was only the Condors first in the WSC, Greaney believes that any win within the conference is a triumph.
“It’s a tough conference,” he said. “Every team is in a tight battle to win.”
The battle continues at Santa Barbara when the Condors take on the Vaqueros Friday at 4 p.m.
by Timothy Weisberg | Sep 29, 2009 | Student Voice Edited Stories-Fall 2009
Published on September 28, 2009
Photo by Tony Sintic
The starting midfielder for the Oxnard College Condors’ soccer team, Sam Nellis, is not what you would call a “hometown kid.”
Originally from Manchester, England, he is a long way from home, but you could not tell by looking at him. Wearing some shorts and sandals, he seemed to fit right in as your typical student-athlete.
Nellis, 24, first came to the United States at 18 years old, to Orange County for a brief coaching stint with coaching company U.K. International. They offered him a full-time contract but he rejected it.
He earned an Associate of Arts degree in England but could not get it transferred due to visa issues.
He came back at age 21 to start studying at Ventura College and playing soccer at Oxnard College. Nellis is also married, having met and marrying a girl from Camarillo a year ago, and has been in this area ever since.
Nellis does not mind going back to school, and loves the community college atmosphere, as well as the strong soccer program at Oxnard College.
“I like VC because it’s a nice college, cool college, laid back and I like OC because it’s got a soccer team, probably the best in this area,” Nellis said.
Nellis was injured during this year’s preseason and was set back two weeks, but was able to come back.
He is confident that the Condors have a good team, and will have a solid season.
“I think we’ll do well, we’ll do very well,” Nellis said. “We started of pretty slow in the season, but now we have been playing together as a team we’ll do better.”
He is a vocal leader on the team, as he tries to give advice on the field to his younger teammates.
Currently, Nellis is working as an under-12 coach for Real So Cal and getting his degree, although he is still undecided on a major.
He would love to start his own coaching company as well as be a head coach for a college or university.
However, getting his degree is his top priority.
It has been hard moving away from his homeland as he misses his family, friends and England’s soccer.
“[I] miss watching the soccer games over there, the atmosphere, the passion,” Nellis said. “I go watch the Galaxy and it’s boring. It doesn’t interest me.”
It has been tough balance for Nellis, between school, practice, games, coaching and his personal life. He continued by saying the he has to manage his work around his tough school schedule.
One of his favorite things he misses from England is the food, such as pies. These pies are filled with beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, gravy etc.
However, he has found a favorite replacement.
“I love In-N-Out, that is one thing I love about the U.S.A., is In-N-Out,” said Nellis.
by Timothy Weisberg | Sep 29, 2009 | Student Voice Edited Stories-Fall 2009
Published on September 28, 2009
Michael Prieto
Staff writer
Despite a slow start, the Moorpark Raiders quickly turned the match into a thrashing as they swept the Glendale College Vaqueros (25-15, 25-15, 25-17).
The match started very slowly for the Raiders, as they found themselves down 9-5 in the first set.
Accuracy was the main culprit in the Raiders’ early struggles; there were several would-be scores simply sailing out of bounds.
However, it was the Raiders’ defense at the net that sparked their comeback. Freshman outside hitter Kasey Ullery led the charge during the comeback with three kills and great defense at the net. After retaking the lead at 10-9, the Raiders never looked back as they steamrolled ahead for a 25-15 victory.
The second set would be much less ambiguous early, as the Raiders would take a 5-1 lead and never need to look back. The Raiders made it look easy as they dominated the net behind sophomore outside hitter Una Siljegovic’s aggressive.
The Raiders were able to tighten up their accuracy issues from the first set as they put on a show of precision hitting. At 22-15 the set was in hand when sophomore middle blocker Rachel Olinyk added insult to injury with three straight aces to close out the second set 25-15.
The third set would also see very few bumps in the road for the Raiders as they continued their strong offensive and defensive play at the net. Though the Raiders trailed early in the third set, the defense got back to its aggressive style of play that helped them dominate the final set.
Sophomore middle blocker Kaki Bage helped to tighten the screws up front as she began blocking shots and getting in some of her own as well.
Bage pointed out the team’s focus on defense on practice as a main reason they were able to come out on top tonight.
“[We have] been doing a lot of work on defense,” she said.
A 25-17 victory in the third set completed the Raiders’ sweep of the Glendale Vaqueros.
The victory was possible in large part because of the Raiders aggressive play at the net as well as simply physically overpowering their opponent by being quicker to the ball and hitting with much more power.
by Timothy Weisberg | Sep 29, 2009 | Student Voice Edited Stories-Fall 2009
Published on September 28, 2009
Ara Ortiz
Staff writer
The Oxnard College women’s volleyball team had its remarkable run into the season come to an abrupt halt, losing for the first time this season against Santa Monica College in four sets (23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 21-25).
The Condors were 4-0 coming into the game, off to their best start in program history.
In the second set, the Condors started off well as they made a comeback to take the lead midway into the set. The setters did a good job passing to the outside hitters but they struggled to get kills on the Corsairs, and dropped the second set.
In the third set, Oxnard started off strong as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The Condors were in sync as everyone started contributing points for the team.
Freshman Sina Tuitama helped score points by using her defensive skills to block shots from the Corsair attackers. Freshmen Andy Perez and Grace Edrada contributed added kills to spark the Condors offensive attack.
The Condors won the set on a blocked kill by the Corsair offense.
However, in the fourth set, the Corsairs’ hitters were too much for the Condors, as they dropped the fourth set and the match to a great Corsairs team.
Condors head coach David Fischer believed his team was inconsistent, often switching from playing well to playing poorly. He feels that extra practices and improvements on the defensive end still need to be made.
“A little too often we would follow a fantastic play with a careless error,” he said.
“[We will] stick with the extra Saturday practices and [continue] drilling the defense.”
The Condors hope to bounce back from their loss when they travel to West L.A. College Tuesday, Sept. 29.
by Timothy Weisberg | Sep 29, 2009 | Student Voice Edited Stories-Fall 2009
Published September 23, 2009
Shoaib Najmuddin
Staff writer
The Oxnard College men’s soccer team was all about defense when it demolished the Santa Ana Dons in a 5-1 victory at Oxnard Tuesday afternoon.
The Condors had a quick start as forward Emigdio Ramirez scored in the first two minutes of the game. Ramirez’s goal set the tone for the rest of the game as the Condors were able to find and create holes in the Dons’ defense.
Condor midfielder Jose Arrevalo played aggressively throughout the game assisting in shot opportunities and consistently pushing the ball down the field. In the 15th minute Arrevalo was tripped near the Dons’ goal resulting in a penalty shot.The designated penalty kicker Emigidio Ramirez conducted a successful shot attempt to the right side of the net, his second goal of the game.
Santa Ana’s comeback hopes were undermined in the 34th minute when Don midfielder Gerzon Blanco was issued a red card and ejected out of the game.
The Condors scored another goal in the 40th minute when midfielder Max Madrigal scored with a high kick to give Oxnard College a 3 goal lead at the half.
The Condors saw similar defensive success in the second half leaving no spaces for the Dons’ offense to penetrate.
Head coach Ross Greaney had been working to fine tune the Condors defense in preparation for the Western State Conference.
“We were much better defensively,” said Greaney. “Our defense actually created opportunities for our offense to score.”
Condor forward Gerardo Ponce scored twice in the second half. His first score came in the 71st minute when he kicked the ball between the legs of Don goalkeeper Felipe Miranda. Only a few minutes later, Ponce was fouled near the Dons goal and was given a penalty kick, which resulted in the Condors final score of the game.
With time winding down, the Dons were desperate to get themselves on the scoreboard. With five minutes remaining, Don defender Richard Vargas took advantage of the Condors’ backup goalkeeper Chuy Romero and scored off of a corner kick.
Allowing Vargas to score was seemingly the only major defensive mistake the Condors made.
With the Western State Conference starting Tuesday, Greaney believes that his very youthful team is ready to compete.
“We are a cohesive unit,” he said. “We’ve come together as a team and we plan to continue playing tight defense.”
