After experiencing several defeats in the preseason, the Comets finally ended their losing streak in the conference league opener against Yuba College in early October, winning 2-0. Building on that momentum, the Comets went against Mendocino College, beating them 2-1 on Oct. 4.

Days later, after a short-lived winning streak, the Comets then suffered a 1-0 defeat against Marin.

So when the Comets faced Bay Valley Conference champion Woodland Community College last week, they were eager for a win. But CCC couldn’t pull it off, losing 5-1 against the Eagles.

Starting the game, Woodland initiated a high press, looking to win the ball early in order to find that early goal to control the game. However, the Comets were aiming to not let their high press affect their offensive game, getting the first shot off in the sixth minute

Woodland retaliated from a counter shortly after catching the Comets defense off guard with a deflection. Woodlands forward Irving Gonzalez opened the scoring 1-0. This led to the Comets struggling to find their footing again, with Woodland taking multiple off-target shots.

Woodland continued to take advantage of the comet’s sloppiness, taking advantage of a missing defender to increase the score to make it 2-0.

Next Comets’ Brandon Garay got a shot off on target, only for it to get blocked, leading to a corner for Arturo Martinez, who narrowly missed.

After a build play with Emilio Cerritos, and Adrian Gonzalez, the Comets were able to get a shot off at the top of the box that hit the post.

Games started to get intense as the Comets got frustrated, and words were exchanged amongst players.

To end off the half in the 42nd minute of the game, Woodland was able to sneak another goal in to close the half with a comfortable 3-0 lead. At this point, Woodland was clearly dominating, taking advantage of any mistakes made, as well exploiting any weakness they figure out.

To open the second half, the Comets came in strong, touching the ball at a fast pace trying to open a door for a comeback.

In the 68th minute, Gonzalez and Cerritos continued to use their connection to give them a chance inside the box for Humberto Sanchez to score the first goal of the game for the Comets.
Unfortunately for the Comets, the momentum was short-lived as Woodland would go on to score two more goals ending the game with a score of 5-1.

“They [Woodland] had more pace and they kept going at it,” Sanchez said. “We gave up sometimes, and that’s what caught us the little mistakes. They didn’t make that many, so we just gotta get better at those.”

With the Comets having two wins and two defeats, their spot in the playoffs are up in the air.

Asked if he thinks this loss would affect their chances in the playoffs, Sanchez said, “Probably, yeah – we just gotta work on our mistakes and not put our heads down, [and] we can have a chance at playoffs.”