Clipper Men’s Soccer Earn 4 Points Out of 6 Against Centralia and Pierce

With the end of the season looming large, the Clipper Men's Soccer team continues to play well and get results to go their way. A draw and a win against the Trailblazers and Raiders, respectively, improved the Clips' record to 5-6-2 in regional play as they sit in with 17 points in the West Region.

The week started off with the lads playing host to Centralia on Wednesday as they hoped to repeat the previous two results against the Trailblazers from earlier in the season.

With this being their third matchup against each other, the teams were very familiar with each other and they showed it on the field as they went tit-for-tat in this match. Sophomore Defender/Forward Grant Fischer got the scoring started in the 8th minute slotting home a crossed ball from Juan Lopez for the 1-0 lead.

Centralia followed up with a goal 10 minutes later to which Alex Canning responded with a goal of his own in the 25th minute to give the Clippers their one-goal lead back. That lead was short-lived as Centralia managed to equalize the game within five minutes.

The Clippers continued to pepper the Centralia goalkeeper with shots throughout the rest of the game, but none managed to sneak by him and the game ended in a 2-all draw.

It was an exasperating end to a game that the team felt should have been won. Nevertheless, the team had to quickly shift gears and focus on their next opponent in Pierce.

This was not an easy game for either team, with the rain making the playing surface to become slick causing passes to skip out of reach. With that said, the tandem of Emiliano Martinez Rivera and Alex Canning helped each other out as they both assisted each other's goals within 2 minutes of each other to help the lads go up 2-0.

Pierce attempted to rally back in the second half and managed a goal in the 55th minute, but their desperation to get the game level was evident as three Raiders players were cautioned in the last 10 minutes, one of them which led to a red card due to a previous yellow card on one of the players. In the end, the Clips held on to the 2-1 lead for the win.

Sadly for the Clips, with Tacoma and Clark securing qualifications into the playoffs, it meant that the Clippers would miss out on playoff soccer this season.

"We had a talk with the team after we learned we weren't making playoffs," said Sophomore Defender Mathias Fog. "We told them to focus on playing the rest of the matches how we want them, focus on our style, and to enjoy every game we have."

He continued, "The game against Pierce wasn't our greatest game, but we managed a 2-1 win. Luckily, AC and Emi helped each other out with the assist and goal for each other, so that was great. But overall, it was a very chaotic game due to the rain and weather."

The Clippers will close out their season with sophomore day on Wednesday, October 29 against Tacoma and their final game will be on Saturday, November 1 against Clark in Vancouver.