COD Men’s Soccer knocks off Cougars for 1st time since 1999, 1-0

COD (6-6-2) grabbed a complete team win, offensively, defensively and in net as the Roadrunners knocked off the Taft Cougars (3-7-3) for the first time in two decades, 1-0.

Sophomore goal keeper Danny Negrete (Thermal Desert Mirage) had his second clean sheet of the season.

Desert has played the Cougars only four times since their first meeting in 1999, which was a win, and never before in Palm Desert. 

The Desert offense was explosive, as they fired off 20 shots, ten in each half, but the accuracy was lacking as only two of those 20 shots were actually on goal. All the Roadrunners needed was one to sneak past the Taft keeper and Desert received that reward in the 62nd minute.

In the first half, the game was starting to go sideways before the officials got things under control, as the Cougars committed ten of their 16 fouls in the first half, Desert only had four fouls the entire game.

In the second half, Taft was handed a red card in the 61st minute, forced to play a man down the rest of the match, the Roadrunners capitalized. Moments later, sophomore midfielder Lucas Rosales (La Quinta H.S.) found freshman midfielder Ezequiel Minero (Desert Hot Springs H.S.) right in front of the net, clobbering a shot past the diving Cougars keeper and giving the home side a 1-0 advantage.

In the 73rd minute, Taft thought they had equalized and in the middle of their celebration, a whistle from midfield could be heard and they side official had called off-sides on the Cougars.

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For additional information, please contact the COD Sports Information Office at 760.423.6641.

Information & Story provided by COD Sports Information. Photo by Michael Leone Photography (f8leone@yahoo.com).