The Bakersfield College Men's Soccer team (2-5-2) couldn't overcome early scores by Fresno City College (7-0-2) and penalties that left the Renegades shorthanded for most of the match in a 6-0 road loss Friday.
Fresno scored first on a penalty kick just ten minutes into the game after the BC keeper received a yellow card for taking a player down inside the box.
But that wasn't the end of BC's penalty problems.
Close to the 30 minute mark, a BC defender was yellow carded for a rough tackle. Just two minutes later, that same defender picked up his second penalty of the match for denying a goal-scoring opportunity when he used his hand to swat a goal-bound ball away from the Renegade's net; that penalty is an automatic red card and ejection, leaving BC one player short on the pitch for the rest of the match.
"We'll never really know what the end outcome would have been if that didn't happen. But when you are playing a team of that caliber, the last thing you want to do when you've conceded two goals is go down a player because of a red card," Coach Vayron Martinez said.
The Rams led 3-0 at the half before tacking on three more goals in the second half to win 6-0.
Fresno is currently ranked in the top ten of California Community College Athletic Association men's soccer teams in the state.