Photo by Julietta Seirmarco

Los Angeles, CA — The Oxy men's soccer team was in action on Wednesday night in a big SCIAC match up against the CMS Stags. 

The Stags came into this contest with a SCIAC record of 7-2, 3 conference points ahead of the Tigers for 2nd place in the SCIAC. Oxy would be looking to get one back in this one as they dropped their road game against the Stags 3-2. 

Oxy came out with energy straight from the jump and put the pressure on the CMS defense early. Vicente Navarro made a pass from near the Tiger logo all the way down into the box that Max Stanley was there to receive and deposit into the back of the net for a beautiful early goal for Oxy. 

After scoring two and a half minutes into the game and with an early 1-0 lead, the Tigers refused to let up. They would continue to put good possessions together, and on an attack shortly after their first goal they found the net on a goal from Oury Diane. 

Diane was able to gain control of a deflected save off of a shot from Charlie Miller and with the goalkeeper unable to get back in position Diane put the ball in for the Tiger's second goal in the first 7 minutes of the game.  

CMS would come right back on the attack shortly after and would force Riley Nyhan to make a nice save on a shot. Shortly after the save, Nyhan was unable to come up with another one as CMS scored their first goal of the game to cut the Tiger lead in half at 2-1. 

Both teams would go scoreless for the rest of the 1st half and the score remained 2-1 at the start of the 2nd half of play. The Stags would start off the 2nd half hot and score the equalizer only 4 minutes into the half thanks to a long kick from the Stag keeper that was then directed towards the Oxy goal and deposited into the net by a CMS offensive player. 

The Tigers had a good chance to score when Aiden Aley took the ball into the box after Diane sprinted up the field with the ball and passed the ball off. Aley would dribble near the goal and get off a shot but the ball was deflected out of bounds by the keeper. 

The Stags would take the lead 3-2 just before the 20 minute mark of the 2nd half on an awkward foal as goalkeeper Riley Nyhan attempted to let a ball roll to him before picking it up in the box. After he picked up the ball a collision with the Stag player made the ball come free and led to the Stags third goal of the game. 

The Tigers nearly tied the game after a pass to Andrew Notter who deposited the ball into the back of the net, but the referee would make an off sides call that negated what would have been the game tying goal. 

Later on in the game with just under 3 minutes to play, the Tigers would create another opportunity for Notter after a deflection from a Max Stanley throw in and Notter got off a shot that was blocked but then quickly gathered the ball off the block and put the ball into the back of the net. 

The score was all tied up at 3 with around 2 and half minutes to go as both teams fought hungrily for the win and a big 3 points in the SCIAC standings. Neither team would be able to find the net one more time however and the game came to an end in a 3-3 draw. 

Securing a draw was big for Oxy as it kept them within 3 conference points of CMS with a 5-1-4 SCIAC record. Men's soccer's next match will be next Wednesday October 30th at Chapman.