The Bakersfield College Men’s soccer team is off to a good start as they earned their third win this season on March 13 at BC against Allan Hancock with a 3-1 victory. The renegades have only tied one game so far against College of The Sequoias and haven’t lost any this 2021 season.

Andrew Gonzales, the freshman from Ridgeview high school, was the standout player of the game as the goal scorer for all three goals. For most of the first half, the game was tight and scoreless till Gonzales came through with a goal towards the end of the half. He continued by scoring two more times in the second half, one of them being the game-winning hat trick. Hancock was able to score a goal later in the game, but the renegades held them off from scoring anymore.

“Scoring the first goal felt great, it boosted my confidence for the rest of the game. The team played a great game as a unit, everyone did their part to ensure we won the game,” Gonzales said.

This season looks very different from those before. Since outdoors activities like sports have had to stop because of COVID-19, the chance of the athletes getting to play at all this year seemed slim. However, with the recent vaccines, and many of the states deciding to loosen regulations, sports are beginning to be welcomed back again.

When asked about the challenges his team faced because of the pandemic, Gonzales talked about not being able to have contact with players and only being able to train and condition. He also talked about “having little time to prepare for this season.”

With a good start to the season, there is much to be excited about with regard to how this team will play throughout the rest of the games.

“I’m excited for the future because I believe this team has what it takes to win conference once again, it’s just a matter of putting in the time and work while we are training,” Gonzales said.