City Shuts Out MiraCosta in PCAC Finale

The Knights came into Friday's PCAC finale needing to get a good result against second place MiraCosta to solidify their playoff hopes and they came away with an impressive 3-0 shutout victory to finish the conference season on a three-game win streak. 

The Knights had a great non-conference season and opened PCAC play with a 1-0 win over state champoion Cuyamaca, but they struggled to put together back-to-back wins until the last two weeks of the season when they defeated Palomar, Miramar, and MiraCosta in the final three games.

San Diego City concluded the regular season at 11-6-5 overall and 7-5-2 in the PCAC, which was good for fourth place. 

Friday's finale had an intense start with physical play that made it seem as if a goal would be difficult to get for both teams, but it didn't take long for the Knights to strike first.

Alexander Torres set up Jamesley Exantus in the 14th minute to put the Knights ahead for good. It was Exantus' team-leading 13th goal of the season and 33rd point.

It two seasons with San Diego City, Exantus tallied 27 goals and 14 assists.

Four minutes after Exantus' goal, Alberto Esparza scored his first goal of the season in his final home game with City.

MiraCosta had its opportunities in the first half, but City goalkeeper Diego Garcia stopped all three shots on target.

The Spartans outshot the Knights 9-4 in the second half and nearly scored multiple times, but Garcia came up big with four more saves to finish with eight on the day and 92 on the season. He totaled 195 saves in two seasons with the Knights.

With MiraCosta still looking to cut into City's lead, Adam Neto put the game away with a goal in the 83rd minute off a pass from Torres. Neto ran to the corner where he was mobbed all his teammates to celebrate. 

It was Torres' second assist of the game an his fifth of the year. Torres also scored 12 goals this season, which was the second-most on the team. 

The Knights will now wait to see what seed they will get in the 3C2A playoffs. The first round is set for Nov. 19 with the higher seed hosting.