by Dennis McCall
Taft Midway Driller
Both Taft College soccer teams continue to perform well during the non-conference grind with the Cougar men the only unbeaten and untied team in the state with a 7-0 record.
The seventh notch in the win column came Wednesday at home with a 2-0 victory over Long Beach City College.
On the same day the Cougar women were on the road for an 8-0 whitewash of Cerro Coso College in Ridgecrest that improved TC to 4-1-1.
Today the women's team hosts East Los Angeles at 1 p.m. while the men head south for a clash with potent Cerritos College.
Sophomore defender Ramon Chavez factored in both goals the Cougar men scored in easing past LBCC.
He scored the first goal, unassisted, in the 44th minute and got the assist when Ramiro Barraza, a sophomore forward from Bakersfield, scored in the 75th minute to ice a satisfying victory over a tough opponent.
For Chavez it was his fourth goal of the season and first assist.
Barraza earned his fifth goal, best on the team and sixth best in the state.
In the women's team's romp in the desert, the Cougars spread the wealth.
Leading scorer Celia Rangel turned in a stellar performance with two goals and three assists, Alexia Gonzalez had two goals and an assist, Valeria Garcia scored a goal and chipped in an assist, and Nora Perez and Cristina Salazar had the other goals.
Victoria Escobar, Ariel Manzano and Kathy Rubio contributed assists.
Gonzalez opened the scoring with a goal four minutes into the match but Cerro Coso's Daisy Zajicek tied it with a goal in the 13th minute. That was Cerro Coso's only hurrah as the Cougars scored seven unanswered goals.
TC led 4-1 at the half.
Hannah Tovar and Arielle Stoyanow shared the goalkeeping duties, each playing a half. Tovar gave up Cerro Coso's only goal and had a save while Stoyanow recorded three saves.