Marc Anthony Martinez
The Husky men’s soccer team faced a 2-0 defeat against Cypress College on Friday, only being able to get two shots on goal.
“The first 30 minutes we were dominating,” said Interim Head Coach Juan Aguiniga.
Due to personal commitments head coach Eddie Flores was unavailable this game. Flores is supposed to be back this week, Aguiniga said.
“We couldn’t connect on some passes we had been working on in practice, but unfortunately today we were not able to do it on the field,” said Anco Veiga, one of the team’s captains.
Two players on the Huskies got a yellow card, Yudelfi Echeverria and Angel Rubio. As a team they gave up 10 total fouls.
Goalkeeper Milton Salazar saved two out of the four shots on goal Cypress had.
Throughout the game you could hear Salazar telling players where to be lined up, what to look out for and keep playing a good game.
“I really thought we could come back,” said Veiga. He kept hustling along with his teammates, who didn’t give up until the end of the game.
Veiga had a chance for a shot which ended up going off the goalie’s body, giving the Huskies a corner kick.
Forward Vitorugo (Vitor) Negreiro had an off night and was substituted out of the game after missing some opportunities when he had the ball and got stopped in the box after a steal.
“Once you miss four or five and start seeing little things that are not there, maybe it’s not his day. Might as well sit him down and get him ready for the next game,” said Aguiniga.
Both coaches Aguiniga and Viega said that they had some key players out that they felt could have changed the dynamic of the game.
Echeverria had a behind-the-back steal, where he put his leg back and was able to take the ball away, but was not able to capitalize on it.
The Huskies had some shots from the 20-yard line, but had no success. The attempts were either too high or off goal.
Darwin Manzano had a last-minute shot in the 89th minute to try and score, but was saved by the Cypress goalkeeper Juvencio Rodriguez.
Julio Portillo for the Huskies had a shot that went wide left, and another shot by Adrian Macias whose kick was also saved by the Cypress goalkeeper.
“They did very well. My expectations for them are very high,” said Aguiniga after the loss.
“Defense can only hold you so long if you don’t score.”
The defense gave them a chance to come back, but the offense wasn’t productive enough to keep up.
Their next game will be Friday 6 p.m. at home against Glendale Community College.