Hancock scores at will vs. Citrus

Citrus College gave the Hancock College men's soccer team good resistance for 18 minutes Friday. Then the Bulldogs' goal barrage began.

Martin Burgos scored Hancock's first goal when he took Homero Vasquez's pass and booted a high one over Citrus goalie Luis Garcia's head in the game's 18th minute. The Bulldogs then scored five goals in 15 minutes and cruised to an 8-0 Western State Conference win.

Hancock, the defending WSC champion, solidified its hold on third place in the WSC and improved to 5-2 in conference games and 11-5-3 overall. Citrus remained winless at 0-8 and 0-14.

After withstanding Hancock's pressure the first 18 minutes, the Owls couldn't stop much of anything the rest of the first half. Isaac Torres had two goals and two assists for the Bulldogs, all in the first half. Torres has 24 goals this year.

Burgos scored twice and had an assist in the first half. Nathan Nunez and Chris Nunez put in Hancock's last two goals before the intermission, and Vasquez assisted on the Bulldogs' first two goals.

Vasquez got his third assist on a goal by Chris Nunez in the second half, and then Julio Thompson completed the scoring on a breakaway in the game's 74th minute.

Zak Viker and Billy Barbaree kept the Owls, who did not have a reserve available, from making a serious scoring threat the few times Citrus got into Hancock territory before intermission. Nathan Nunez played a superb midfield for the Bulldogs.

"We tried not to look past these guys, and I think we did pretty well on that," said Burgos. "We're playing good now. We had fun today, and I think that made a big difference for us."

Fun, Hancock coach Al Garcia said, was what had been missing for his team.

"When we played Santa Barbara City College (Oct. 13), the guys just seemed so tight," said Garcia. "Now we've got it going again, the guys seem to have had fun the last two games and they seem to be back on track."

The Bulldogs have just three games left. They play Tuesday at first-place Santa Barbara.