MEN'S SOCCER POSTS KEY WSC WIN OVER L.A. MISSION

SANTA MARIA-- The margin may have been just a single goal, but the Allan Hancock College men's soccer team recorded perhaps its biggest win of the season on Friday, besting L.A. Mission, 1-0 on the campus field.

Hancock (7-7-5, 5-4-0 WSC) pulled itself to within a single point of first place in the Western State Conference race with the victory. Just a week earlier, the Bulldogs had fallen 4-0 to the same Eagles for their worst defeat of the season.

The teams battled to a scoreless tie for more than three-quarters of the contest before Hancock finally broke the ice in the 82nd minute. During a Bulldog rush, forward Matt McDonald (Fr., Lompoc) fired at the L.A. Mission goal from about 12 yards out. The hard shot was blocked by the Eagles' goalkeeper, but caromed off the back of another L.A. Valley defender and found its way into the net for the game's only score.

Defensively, the Bulldogs received a stellar performance from freshman goalkeeper Omar Pimentel (Lompoc), who finished with seven saves. His desperate, diving effort to stop an L.A. Valley shot to his left in the 65th minute was among AHC's top plays of the year. Once again, the Bulldogs' back row of Victor Velasco (So., Santa Maria), Tim Brockelhurst (So., Santa Maria) and Alex Guerrero (Fr., Righetti) played tremendously in front of the Hancock goal.

Coach Al Garcia's squad will hit the road for a pair of key Western State Conference matches next week, as the Bulldogs visit Oxnard on Tuesday and count-rival Santa Barbara on Friday.