BY: Miguel Dominguez
An upsetting 2-0 loss for the East Los Angeles College Huskies against Rio Hondo Roadrunners gave the Huskies their eighth loss of the season.
The Huskies have four wins, eight losses and seven draws.
The Huskies’ goalkeeper Santiago Pagnutti made the first save for the Huskies at the 14th minute of the first half.
He stretched out and was able to use his foot to block the shot. This would have been the first goal of the game.
Twenty minutes into the first half, the Huskies had a chance at the goal with the keeper out of position, but the shot missed wide of the goal.
The first goal came during the first half with 38 minutes on the clock from Roadrunners Maximillian De Anda. The goal came from a free kick in which the ball deflected off the Huskies’ defensive wall. Goalkeeper Pagnutti was left standing as the ball entered on the other end of the net.
The Huskies had another shot at goal in the fortieth minute, but the Roadrunner’s keeper was able to grab it with ease.
Later, center back Orlando Valencia had a chance to score on a play.
Valencia had two teammates to pass it to or shoot and passed the ball to his attacker but was called offside.
After the play, coaches urged Valencia to shoot the ball instead of passing it and that ended the first half. The Roadrunners led 1-0.
The first chance at goal in the second half came from the Roadrunners. Stefano Panebianco was wide open when he received the ball, but defender Valencia used his strength to overtake the ball from Panebianco.
Pagnutti had another save for the Huskies, 15 minutes into the second half. Pagnutti got a touch on the ball as the ball hit the far post and sent it for a corner kick.
Later, after the play, the Huskies had a couple of chances to score. Jesus Garcia had the keeper to beat, but Garcia’s shot was wide of the goal.
Another chance came from a corner kick when right back Christian Carranza got the ball from a deflection and shot it right at the keeper’s hands.
The Roadrunners would score their second goal of the game with 10 minutes left. Ramiro Piza got the goal.
The Huskies were asking for an offside call from the assistant referee but kept the flag down.
The Roadrunners led 2-0. The Huskies played with frustration and lack of confidence toward the end of the game.
Overall, the Huskies had multiple opportunities to score but were unable to get it through the net. “We missed a lot of [opportunities]. If you can’t score you can’t win” Eddie Flores, head coach, said. The Huskies also made bad passes that led to The Roadrunners counter attacking the defense.
The Huskies defense was caught out of formation which often led to a one-versus-one against the Roadrunner’s attackers.
Pagnutti had big saves for the Huskies. It could have been 5-0 if it was not for the goalie and help of the defense.“Our goalie [Pagnutti] made some spectacular saves,” Coach Flores said