On Tuesday, August 30, the COS Men’s Soccer team wiped the floor with the Allan Hancock College Bulldogs, finishing with a massive 5-0 scoreline by the end of the match.

This Giants team came into their first home game hot off of a 3-1 victory against Bakersfield College and came into this season on the heels of a CVC championship.

With head coach Bustamante now in his second year at COS, his ability to get the experience of the playoffs as well as winning the conference in his first season has allowed him to better prepare his players – new and returning – on how to win a ring.

“[Winning CVC] did a lot in allowing us to believe we can accomplish our goals. So, by us accomplishing that last year, it allowed us to start this year with the belief that we can do it again, and do it even better,” Bustamante said.

As for how the first two games went, both were marked by first-period domination on both sides of the pitch from COS. In fact, in both of these games, COS finished the first half up 2-0, taking different routes to achieve the same scoreline.

In the first half of the first game, players Ernesto Pacheco (24 minutes) and Jesus Godinez (43 minutes) both scored a goal, with one assist coming from Gustavo Ledesma.

For the second game’s first period, Jesus Godinez continued with another goal (33 minutes), followed by one more from Felix Zarate (43 minutes) and assists came from players Adrian Lopez (2) and Cristian Trujillo.

That, of course, is only half the story, and where the similarities end between the first two games. In the second half of the first game, COS actually tied 1-1 with Bakersfield, with that one goal coming from Tomas Alvarez (63 minutes), winning the game 3-1 in the end.

For the Allan Hancock game, COS continued dominating their opponent and finished out the game with three more goals from Cristian Trujillo (57 minutes), Joshua Aguirre (62 minutes), and Cristian Santillan (68 Minutes). Assists came from Moises Cortes (2) and Marques Carrillo.

For this team, and all of COS sports, it is all about mentality. Coach Bustamante reiterated how important it was that his players stayed on the ball, no matter how many missed opportunities they may have had, saying,

“We had a lot of clear chances and we could’ve scored a lot of goals, but even though it was very difficult to score, the guys stayed together, stayed hungry, stayed believing, and stayed pushing and that’s what matters.”

Through keeping together, and keeping their heads in the game, COS Men’s Soccer has been able to win two games in a row and will keep the ball rolling into next week, when they play Canyon’s College on Tuesday, September 6.

For more sports and other news, make sure to visit all our other stories on https://thecampusjournal.com/ and stay tuned for all the great content we will be putting out this year!