Photo by Cory Rubin/CougarNews.com

After a season that saw them reach the state finals of the California State Junior College Championship, the College of the Canyons men’s soccer team looked to start the season off with a win.

The Cougars best chance of scoring came in the 21st minute of the first half when Urial Rodriguez’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Leonel Luna of Sacramento-area Cosumnes River College.

COC was able to strike first in the 55th minute when Arnaldo Macias rocketed the ball into the upper corner giving COC the 1-0 lead.

Macias put it simply when asked what was going through his mind before the goal.

“I saw an opening in the goal and I put it to the right side,” he said.

Cosumnes River gave COC a scare on Aaron McCollum’s shot that was stopped by a sprawling Alex Burkevics in the 62nd minute. In the later stages of the game, COC added to their lead to make it 2-0 on a goal by Urial Rodriguez with an assist from Maayan Schrager. After two minutes of added time, the referee blew the whistle drawing an end to the season opener with the Cougars winning 2-0.

After the game Coach Phil Marcellin said about the win and the shutout: “It makes the difference it got us to where we were last year with a whole new group of guys with only a few returning starters its a great start that gives the confidence. We made a few mistakes but we worked out of them and created a lot of scoring chances and we took two of them its a great way to start the season.”

The Cougars look to improve to 2-0 when they face off against Chaffey College at COC Wednesday at 4 pm.