By Liliana Marquez
Two goals for both teams each, lit up an encounter between the East Los Angeles College men’s soccer team and Fullerton College which ended even thanks to a Husky rally culminating with an Adolfo Larios goal in the 68th minute, last Friday at Weingart Stadium.
The Huskies settled for their third draw and stand 1-1-3, overall. The winless Fullerton Hornets are 0-2-1 overall.
ELAC underestimated Fullerton,who proved to be a tough foe according to ELAC Assistant Head Coach Felipe Bernal. “We started slow, we underestimated Fullerton and thought it was going to be a piece of cake,” Bernal said.
Fullerton forward Alejandro Mora opened the score with a powerful and strong header over the 20-minute mark. The play began when the Hornets were awarded a corner kick. The ball then went to Mora who found the perfect angle to pitch it in.
“My goal boosted out morale and got our momentum going. I was speechless. I wanted to go and celebrate with the bench, but I was on the other side (of the field),” Mora said.
ELAC’s goalkeeper Juan Escobar was able to stop a Hornet shot from a free kick over minute 32 in the first half by throwing himself to the ground.
Husky Jesus Mariscal scored five minutes into the second half when he took a shot near the midfield, taking Fullerton’s goalkeeper Roberto Diaz by surprise. I was Mariscal’s first goal in his college career.
Fullerton’s work as a team payed off when midfielder Misael Samayoa scored their second goal in the 67th minute. “It was a fantastic goal. I just kicked the ball and figured if the ball goes in or not it is a good shot,” Samayoa said.
Husky Adolfo Larios knotted the score a minute later with his sixth goal of the season off an assist by Jimmy Espinal. “When I scored the tie I just thought of keeping the ball going, because we wanted to go for the win,” Larios said.
However, Larios believes that the team needs to fight from the beginning to the end, and not to wait until they get scored on. “It is the same thing as in the other games. We wait until we get scored on or until we are losing to pick it up and that is when we start attacking, but is too late,” Larios said.
“Both teams played hard especially during the second half, fighting every single ball and going after every ball. The result could have gone either way,” Fullerton Head Coach Alex Perez said.
The Husky coach explained how ELAC experimented in the second half. “The game was more overflowed during the second half. We were basically trying some new players to see how they look. We were unlucky. We can’t change the result,” ELAC Head Coach Eddie Flores said.
East Los Angeles College will close out non-conference play at home against Southwestern College from Chula Vista, tomorrow at 6 p.m.