By Jerry Flores
Staff Writer
Husky men’s soccer won its non-conference game on Saturday against Southwestern College with a final score of 3-1.
The Huskies’ offense started to work early in the game when sophomore forward Guillermo Guzman scored in the first minute of play.
“It just happened [scoring early in the game], but it gave us a lot of confidence to play the rest of the game,” said East Los Angeles College head coach Eddie Flores.
ELAC’s offense continued attacking as minutes passed. They attacked from the sides and center as they tried to increase the lead.
At minute 25, Huskies scored the second goal made by freshmen forward Denilson Rivera who shot from inside the area. The shot passed through the right side of the goalkeeper.
The goal came from an error by Southwestern sophomore defender Omar Padilla who lost the ball outside the goalkeeper’s box allowing Rivera to score.
ELAC controlled most of the game during the first half with ball possession, attacking, and good work by the defense who was almost impenetrable for the entire game.
“I think it was good for the moments, but when they scored the goal they stopped [the good work the defense was doing]. We had to make a substitution to fix those errors,” said Flores.
“The guy who came in, Soto, he hasn’t played any minutes in the whole preseason. He is a freshman and he did a really good job in the game,” said Flores.
Southwestern tried to tie the game when freshmen midfielder Ivan Ramos made a sprint on the left side and threw a pass to the center where freshman forward Jehova Torres took a shot, but deviated to the right side.
In the first minutes of the second half, the Huskies seemed lost in the field. They were unable to make good passes and allowed Southwestern to create many chances to score.
Southwestern scored a goal in minute 66 when sophomore midfielder Christian Velasco shot a free kick. After many bounces inside the box, freshman midfielder Kyo Adachi took the ball to the center box and scored.
Southwestern was dominating the game, but a counter attack allowed Rivera to score the third goal for ELAC in minute 70, after a pass from Husky freshman goalkeeper Sergio Rubalcava.
Rubalcava grabbed the ball in the air and quickly threw it to the center of the field, where Rivera won the ball possession.
Rivera sent his shot to the left corner of the goalkeeper . He finished the game with two goals.
“Everything was working good for us. We were working together as a team. When we communicate with each other, our game is always better. Fortunately for me, I was able to score two goals today and I’m really happy for the win we got today,” said Rivera.
Toward the end of the game, Southwestern still had a chance to score when freshman defender Abraham Negrete was face-to-face with the goalkeeper, but missed the opportunity by sending his shot into the post.
The Huskies lost 2-1 to Bakersfield College in an away game yesterday. Huskies are 1-3-1 overall and their next game will be against Glendale on Friday at home at 6 p.m. in another non-conference game.