Canyons Commands in 10-1 Victory Over Allan Hancock

By Mari Kniesel/COC Sports Information

College of the Canyons powered past visiting Allan Hancock College on Tuesday night at the Cougar Soccer Field, commanding a 10-1 victory. 

Canyons (4-2) had previously faced AHC last year in the first round of the 3C2A regional playoffs where they earned a 3-2 overtime win in the last minute of play to move on to the second round. 

This time around was not so equally contested.  

From whistle to whistle the Cougars peppered the net landing 10 of their 14 shots. This kept Bulldogs goalkeeper, Allie Lemmon on her toes the entire match. Lemmon finished the match with the 10 goals against and worked for four saves.  

COC creshman forward Bailey Williamson kicked off the goal-scoring parade in the 14th minute of play for her third of the season and was shortly followed by sophomore midfielder Ashley Striegel, stating her fifth score this season.

Soon after, in the 22nd and 24th minute, sophomore forward Victoria Martinez netted a pair of goals to make a 4-0 lead. Martinez was assisted by fellow sophomore and sister Vivian Martinez for the first goal and Striegel for the second. Martinez and Striegel are now tied for highest number of goals on the squad. 

Getting in on the action in the 37th minute, was Amy Fimbres with her second of the season, capping off the first half with five Cougar goals. 

Allan Hancock (3-5) came out in the second half with more energy, however that was squashed in the 56th minute when COC's Felicia Marquez buried her first goal of the season from the penalty marker. 

About 10 minutes later, sophomore midfielder Alexa Garcia hammered a pair of shots from 25 yards out to tack on two more goals and stat just as many on the season.  

The Canyons defense held its line well throughout the match and was heavily involved in the attack, resulting in goals from sophomore center-back Sofia Soler in the 76th minute and a goal from freshman outside-back Emma Wenz, her first of the season, in the 82nd minute. Soler now holds two goals on the season. 

This capped the Cougars' goal-scoring campaign, but the Bulldogs continued to fight resulting in their only score of the match coming in the 88th minute. AHC's center-forward pressed her way through the COC defense to put one past Canyons sophomore goalkeeper Annabella Gonzales. 

Gonzales started the second half of the match, taking over the goal-tending responsibilities from Hayley Bench (4-1), who recorded one save in the first half in claiming the win.

The Cougars went into the match with 12 goals on the season in their five matches played and walked away nearly doubling that number. 

Canyons will be at home for the start of the Western State Conference, South Division play on Tuesday, Oct. 1 taking on Glendale College. Kick-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.  

—Photo by Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director