Courtesy COC Sports Information

The College of the Canyons women’s soccer team was forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with conference rival Citrus College on Friday, as the Cougars surrendered a late goal to snap its three-game win streak.

Canyons (7-1-5, 5-0-3) remains undefeated in conference play and has not dropped a match since a 1-0 loss at Santa Barbara City College on Sept. 18.

On Friday, the Cougars struggled to find many scoring opportunities due in large part to the defensive strategy employed by the Owls against COC leading scorer Marissa Kneisel.

Kneisel, who entered the game two goals shy of breaking the program’s all-time scoring record, was double- and triple-teamed throughout the contest in effort to neutralize the Canyons attack.

It was freshman forward Amanda Balzer who eventually broke the scoreless tie, registering her fifth goal of the season in the 54th minute. Sophomore Lucy Maino was credited with an assist on the play.

That lead would hold for more than 23 minutes, until Citrus’ Savanna Lujan booted a long ball that just sailed over the outstretched arms of COC goalkeeper Kianna Hemphill to tie the score at 1-1 in the 77th minute.

With the momentum now back in the Owls’ favor, the two teams would battle for the final 13 minutes of play before time expired with the game still tied.

Canyons totaled 21 shots on the day, compared to just nine for the Owls. In addition, Citrus committed 11 fouls compared to just four by the Cougars.

COC will next travel to Antelope Valley College at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.