By Liliana Marquez
The men’s soccer team has struggled throughout the season. With only three games left, the playoffs are no longer an option after their eighth conference defeat 2-1 yesterday against Cerritos College.
ELAC lost 1-0 to defending state champions Mt. San Antonio College last Friday.
The loss against Mt. SAC left the Huskies having to win their remaining four games as well as rely on the results of their conference rivals. However, yesterday’s loss against Cerritos prevented them from advancing to the playoffs.
“Realistically I think this is it because of the way the numbers look and the power rank points,” ELAC Assistant Coach Felipe Bernal said.
Despite that, the Huskies had a good performance. Their defense stopped the Cerritos offense (ranked sixth statewide) from scoring during the first 35 minutes of the first half, and ELAC almost pulled it out.
The Huskies scored two goals in the second half, but one was disallowed due to an offside call.
Bernal said that the game was as crucial as the other conference games they have played to date.
“All the games have been crucial, not only this one. We can’t say that because we didn’t win this game we are out. There were a lot of games in the season where we could have played and executed, but we didn’t. We fell short just like in the other ones,” Bernal said.
Adolfo Larios scored the only Husky goal against Cerritos, his eleventh goal of the season. “I feel really good. I scored for the team. It counts as a team effort,” Larios said.
Bernal said, “It was great for him (Larios). He has been focused and he hasn’t put his head down regardless of the results that we have gotten. It is well-deserved.”
The Huskies have had a bad season with nine defeats, earning nine points out of the 42 possible in the South Coast Conference.
Some of these defeats have been against top-ranked teams such as Mt. SAC, Los Angeles Harbor College and Cerritos.
ELAC has won five out of the 18 games played so far. Two of those were SCC victories against strong teams Pasadena City and Long Beach City colleges.
“We will play the last games the same way. We are going to try to finish strong. We aren’t down just because we can’t make it to playoffs. We can still finish the season strong,” Larios said.
Despite the numbers and results so far, the Huskies will fight to win their last three games to finish the season strong.
“I think the team is going to play the same way. We are going to try to push it to a position where we can get momentum. We have to close the season with class. It doesn’t matter if we are losing. We have to show professionalism in everything we do,” Bernal said.
The Huskies stand 5-9-4 overall, 3-8 in the SCC. They play at El Camino College Compton Center Friday at 4 p.m.
The last home game for the Huskies will be next Tuesday at 3 p.m.