Cypress, Calif. - Golden West opened up their Orange Empire Conference season with a hard-fought 2-1 away win over Cypress College.

The Chargers got on the board early when they were awarded a penalty kick just 7 minutes into the game. Cypress took advantage of the opportunity to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

The score remained the same into halftime, despite the Rustlers creating several opportunities to find the back of the net. After some halftime adjustments, Golden West came out strong. The score remained the same as the two teams worked hard to find another goal. In the 85th minute, the Mark Hernandez got the ball on wing, beat his defender and put in a cross that Adrian Montes headed past the Cypress goalkeeper to make it 1-1. Just over a minute later, Johnny Garcia made a save from a Cypress cross and then played a quick ball to Jorge Pineda who attacked the goal on the dribble, cus past a recovering defender, and placed the ball just past the Cypress keeper to make it 2-1. The scored remained as the referee blew the final whistle to see the visitors victorious over Cypress College.

The Rustlers return to action this Friday, October 2nd as they host Santiago Canyon College for their league home opener.