Panthers Beat El Camino in Semi-Final

CCCAA Report

WALNUT -- Hartnell College erupted for a 4-1 win over El Camino College while host Mt. San Antonio College held off a late rally from American River in a 2-1 win as the top seeds from both the NorCal and SoCal regions set the table for their state championship battle on Sunday afternoon with semifinal wins on Friday night at the CCCAA Men's Soccer Championship.

Hartnell (20-1-3) will be looking for its second CCCAA title while Mt. San Antonio will be looking for its sixth. All of the Mounties' previous championships have come since 2009, with the most recent in 2016. They're returning to the championship game for the second consecutive time after falling to Fresno City in the last CCCAA tournament final in 2019. Hartnell won its previous championship in 2013.

Hartnell got goals from four different players, with a pair coming in each half, as the Panthers won their second game in a row and ran their unbeaten streak to 16 games. 

Javier Espinal-Perez and Marco Antonio Ruiz each tallied scores in the first 20 minutes to put Hartnell in front quickly, 2-0, while Ramiro Sanchez and Anthony Rangel found the back of the next in the second half. Andy Cabrera scored in the 27th minute for El Camino, providing the Warriors their lone goal.

Hartnell outshot Mt. San Antonio, 20-18, including a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal. It was Espinal-Perez, however, he tallied one of the more important shots of the night, scoring on a header off a corner kick by Isaac Lomeli Zuniga in the 11th minute to not only get the first score of the game but set the tone for the next several minutes.

Less than 10 minutes later, the Panthers would strike again, this time off the foot of Marco Antonio Ruiz whose free kick hit the first post and bounced in. But any thought that the Panthers were going to run away with it at the point was negated just seven minutes later when Cabrera's 27th-minute score off an assist from Ricardo Martin made it 2-1.

The teams then held each other scoreless over the next 45 minutes before Sanchez's unassisted shot off a turnover slid under the goalkeeper in the 72nd minute for a 3-1 Hartnell lead. Rangel then wrangled a loose ball off a rebound in the 81st minute to complete the four-goal outburst by the Panthers.

Luis Garibay had five saves for Hartnell while Santiago Cervantes had seven for Hartnell.