The MSJC soccer team won a wild match at College of the Desert on Friday to move into second place in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference standings with one week to go in the regular season.
The Eagles and Roadrunners battled through the first 50 minutes of Friday's match scoreless until the fireworks began with an MSJC goal by Lorena Gonzalez in the 51st minute, she was assisted by Brooke Smith. The game would remain 1-0 in favor of the Eagles for the next 18 minutes before a flurry of action decided the outcome.
Desert tied the match in the 69th minute, but the Eagles responded almost immediately with goals in both the 73rd and 76th minutes to push their advantage to 3-1. Gonzalez scored in the 73rd and Haylee Chilton got a helper from Gonzalez to score in the 76th. The Roadrunners would answer with another score in the 78th minute to cut the lead to 3-2. The two offenses after combining for four goals in a nine-minute span went quiet the rest of the way and the Eagles held on for the victory. Briseida Medina was credited with the win in goal for MSJC as she played 90 minutes and made 3 saves.
The Eagles improved to 8-8-2 overall on the season with the victory and are now 5-3-1 in the IEAC standings with just one match remaining on their conference schedule. Chaffey, who is currently in first place, has two IEAC matches remaining and are currently 5-2-1. MSJC will conclude their conference schedule Tuesday when they host Victor Valley at HCN Bank Stadium at 3 pm.