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Oxnard takes on champ today
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More from CollegeIt's the type of challenge for which the Oxnard College men's soccer team has been building for three seasons.
Four come-from-behind results in five matches have the comeback Condors (3-0-2) undefeated entering this afternoon's visit by defending state champion Cerritos (5-2-2), the preseason No. 2 team in the national NSCAA poll.
Kickoff at the Oxnard College track stadium is 4 p.m.
"It's been fun so far," said third-year Oxnard coach Ross Greaney. "I didn't think it would take me this long to get the program where I wanted it, but there was a lot of work to be done in Oxnard and finally we've broken through."
Oxnard leaked late goals during Greaney's 0-7 start in 2005. With former Stanford assistant coach Rick Caldwell now on board, the opposite has been true through the first three weeks of this season.
The Condors have built the fourth best record in Southern California by becoming the late, late show.
They turned a 2-1 deficit against Pasadena into a 3-2 win.
They scored a late goal to earn a 1-1 draw at 2004 and 2005 state champion Santa Ana.
They saved the real dramatics for Friday's 4-3 win at College of the Desert, when they scored four times in the final 15 minutes to leap out of a 3-0 hole.
"We have a lot of freshmen," said Greaney. "They're adjusting to road trips, different weather, different surfaces. .... referees who don't care about us.
"It takes us some time to deal with those obstacles, but the good news is we figure it out pretty quickly and it's helped us get points."
Hueneme High product Luis Villegas has three goals and three assists in five games. Captain and midfield maestro Gabriel Gonzalez has two goals and two assists. Nine Condors have already gotten on the scoresheet.
The key today will be shifting gears. Oxnard can't afford to go behind Cerritos, which didn't concede a goal during its playoff run last year and returns former U.S. youth international Brian Alvares in midfield.
"All they need is one and they lock the door," said Greaney.
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