By Liliana Marquez
The men’s soccer team achieved their fourth consecutive victory this season against San Diego Mesa College last Friday at Weingart Stadium.
With a dramatic 3-2 victory, the Huskies played a difficult match where they had trouble gaining control of the ball during the first half and ended the match with two players injured.
This was their fourth consecutive victory following their defeat of Taft, in a road game 2 – 1.
The first half against Mesa was complicated for the Huskies despite scoring an early goal, and the team went into half-time trailing 2-1.
That changed during the second half, when the Huskies got more aggressive and started to attack the opposing team and gained control of the match.
The problems started during warm-up when ELAC’s goalkeeper Luis Castillo got injured and had to be substituted by Juan Escobar.
Two minutes after kick-off, a throw-in by the Huskies generated a great scoring opportunity, but the shot went above the post.
It was about minute three, when a crossed shot by Kevin Gomez ended-up at the left of the post to give the Huskies the advantage with an early goal.
Despite ELAC’s goal, Mesa was working hard to tie the score.
ELAC committed a foul and Mesa was awarded a free kick, but Dean Ramos blocked the shot.
Kevin Gomez missed a great scoring opportunity when his shot passed just outside the post at the 10 minute mark.
After that, Gomez had to come out of the match due to a knee injury and was replaced by Salvador Medrano.
During the 13th minute, a throw-in by ELAC generated a dangerous situation were Danny Suarez made a pass to David Farias who took a shot that was stopped by the opposing goalkeeper.
Mesa did not have too many scoring opportunities during the game, but kept working hard to tie the score.
During the 22nd minute, a pass by Suarez gave Omar Garcia a great chance to score the second goal but he only managed a weak shot.
A Husky corner kick resulted in a header by Jean A. Gonzalez that gave Suarez another opportunity to score. but he failed to do so.
Mesa scored at the 28th minute to tie the score and again at the 39th minute to go in at half-time leading the Huskies 2 -1.
Coach Flores made some changes to his lineup before the start of the second half and the change made a difference on the team right away.
As the second half kicked-off, the Huskies started to dominate the match and at the 53rd minute, Suarez scored to tie the game and give the Huskies the momentum.
The third goal was scored at the 69 minute mark, when Javier Campos came up big.
The rest of the match was exciting and full of great touches by both teams.
Husky supporters kept cheering for the team as they waited for the referee to call the match.
After the match, Coach Eddie Flores said, “It was a dramatic victory. We complicated the game in the first half. For the second half we substituted some players, but we are on the right track. There are difficult games ahead.”
Suarez, who scored the second goal said, “We tied – the team went up, and it was because of our attitude and good work during the second half. I’m proud of my team and I feel really good about this fourth consecutive victory.”
“We worked hard and with a lot of effort. This is the result of practice and hard work,” said Campos who scored the winning goal.
Gomez, who scored the early goal and had to leave the match due to a knee injury, said that he was proud of his team because they were able to overcome the difficulties of the match and win it.
Gomez said that would try his best to recover from his injury as soon as possible and be back for the next match.