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PCC men’s soccer team couldn’t hold off the late attack of Taft and ended up with a 1-1 draw Tuesday.Down by a goal, Taft pushed forward, mounted a sustained offensive that PCC thought they could withstand.

The Lancers’ defense failed to clear a relatively easy ball and Taft midfielder Waldemar Gutierrez made the most of it. With a left footed smash with less than a minute to play, keeper Mario Umanzor had no chance of stopping it.

The Lancers went up one nil midway through the second half when midfielder Ricky Reyes met Malcom Linton’s long throw at the back post and headed in past the arms of Taft keeper Victor Chinchilla from six yards out.

Chinchilla also came up with a sparkling save, diving low and to his right to barely deflecting a Brandon Campos free-kick from 30 yards out.

Early on, PCC had the better opportunities. Chris Ferrer found space inside the 18-yard box on a clever ball off the foot of Benjamin Martin, letting go a shot, but Chinchilla was there again to tap the ball over the crossbar.

Ferrer was unlucky not to strike first when he lofted a shot from the right flank that beat Chinchilla, but ricocheted off the right post.

Taft defender Taylor Rivas went highest on an out swinging cross from Ronald Leiva, but his head shot rattled off the crossbar. The rebound was not cleared and Guitierrez left footed shot shook the woodwork.

PCC preferred the long ball to carry out their attack, mainly coming from Campos, and focusing their efforts on the left side of the Taft defense, while early on Taft sat back on defense, counter attacking, but never troubling Umanzor.

Linton and the rest of the defense line were strong early on, as PCC dominated the first half of play. But as the day went on, the defense deteriorated.

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