Bad blood boils over in Dons loss

   Tied 1-1 in the final minutes of the first half, Santa Ana defender Henry Escalante was ejected, receiving a red card for a hard sliding tackle from behind that injured a Taft player.
   The ejection forced the Dons to play with 10 men the rest of the game, losing 4-3 against visiting Taft College Cougars on Friday, Sept. 18.
   “It’s frustrating you know, but I think we played better with 10 than 11. Sometimes it works that way,” said Head Coach Javier Vasquez.
   The Cougars capitalized on the ejection when the free kick found Taft forward Ivan Dominguez alone behind the defense to give them a 2-1 lead going into half-time.
   Trailing by one goal and playing one man down, Don forward Marco Ramirez scored two goals in 18 minutes giving them a 3-2 lead.
   Taft poured on a late attack, overwhelming a tired Santa Ana defense. In the 79th minute, Cougars midfielder Chris Sandoval’s long shot from the middle tied the game at 3-3.
   With only four minutes left in the game, forward Noel Lopez scored the winning goal extending Taft’s win streak to four.
   “We would have loved to put the game in the bag,” Vasquez said.“We had it at times and then they took the lead off a couple of mistakes that we committed.”
   Tempers flared in the final minutes when Taft defender Antonio Gonzalez was ejected on a red card for a hard tackle, capping a physical game that had six yellow cards. The loss dropped the Dons record to 1-2-2.
   They will open conference play against the Cypress College Chargers tomorrow at 4 p.m.