Taft College men's soccer team, loaded with local players, headed back to state
Nov. 29—Under coach Angelo Cutrona, the Taft College men's soccer program has been a perennial playoff contender for two decades. This weekend, though, the Cougars will get their first chance at a state title since 2017.
Led by a stalwart defense headlined by goalkeeper Jaime Tiscareno, the state leader in goals against average and a Garces graduate, the Cougars pitched 13 clean sheets this season, split the Central Valley Conference crown with rival Fresno City and survived a challenging Northern California regional playoff bracket. Most recently, they edged a high-scoring Hartnell squad 2-1 in the final Saturday afternoon.
The result gave them a spot among the final four teams at American River College in Sacramento and a semifinal date with reigning champion Mt. San Antonio on Friday.
Taft will not have to endure a rematch with Fresno City, which the Cougars failed to beat in two opportunities this season (a 2-0 road loss on Oct. 7 and a 0-0 home draw a month later). The Rams also knocked out Taft the last time it reached the state championship. This year, though, Fresno City entered as the top seed in NorCal, but the Rams were stunned by No. 17 Clovis in their first match.
Fellow CVC member Merced eventually ended Clovis' run and leveraged Fresno City's early exit into its own state berth.
Of the two other teams that beat Taft this season, Oxnard and Cerritos, only the Condors survived the arduous Southern California bracket, as the Falcons fell short at home against Mt. SAC on an Alex Mendez extra-time strike, bringing their unbeaten season to an end two rounds after they eliminated Bakersfield.
The midfielder Mendez has racked up 15 goals and become the most prolific of three double-digit scorers for the Mounties, along with forwards Andrew Vasquez (13) and Edward Castro (12). All three, along with Felipe Cobian and Jacob Cervantes, converted in a 5-3 penalty shootout that lifted Mt. SAC over El Camino in the regional semifinals, as Mounties keeper Jacob Cardenas held firm.
Taft has relied on its defense and a sophomore-heavy lineup, giving at least 20 starts to Tiscareno, midfielders Steven Fuentes (La Puente), Gabriel Soto (Arvin) and Brian Trujillo (Palmdale) and forward Aldo Pantoja (Garces). Freshman Omar Marquez (Chavez), however, has been the Cougars' biggest scoring threat with nine goals and five assists. Ebubechukwu Ekpemogu (Garces), once the 2018-19 BVarsity All-Area player of the year, has continued his steady progress as a sophomore despite playing just 15 games, tallying five goals and six assists.
Scoring production is widespread as nine additional players have scored at least two goals on the year. Taft's eight goals in the playoffs have originated from seven different players, with strikes from Angel Navarro (Ridgeview) and Alexander Castrejon (Liberty) lifting the Cougars in their regional final win over Hartnell.
As it happens, both Cutrona and Mt. SAC coach Juan Sanchez lead their school's women's teams as well with the help of several assistants, but neither will have to pull double duty in Sacramento. Both Taft and Mt. SAC's women's teams suffered 1-0 losses to eventual state qualifiers in Fresno City and Chaffey, respectively.
Reporter Henry Greenstein can be reached at 661-395-7374. Follow him on Twitter: @HenryGreenstein.
