By Jonathan Castro
The East Los Angeles College Huskies men’s soccer team came in to Tuesday’s game against No. 4-ranked Cerritos College with a playoff berth at stake.
The Huskies had already fallen to the Falcons earlier in the year 2-1 and were determined to beat them to keep all hope alive.
The Huskies came out of the gates looking to draw first blood as they attacked Cerritos much of the first half.
The Cerritos Falcons settled down, which forced the Huskies to drop back, setting the games tempo much lower than the Huskies said they wanted.
As the first half was winding down, Cerritos’s Jose Rivera took a pass down the sideline.
Rivera centered the ball to teammate forward Carlos Escobar who put it through the Huskies net. The Falcons looked good taking the lead in to half.
ELAC began the second half with a controversial offsides goal that would have given the Huskies a 1-1 tie.
Seven minutes after the call the Huskies forward Adolfo Larios was left one-on-one with the Cerritos goalkeeper Benito Gonzalez.
Larios was able to kick the ball past Gonzalez to give the Huskies a 1-1 tie. With that goal, Larios has accumulated 11 goals to lead the team.
As the game was tied, both teams went for the potential winning goal to give their team a much-needed victory.
Escobar once again had the ball in his possession at the top of the goalie’s box, and shot a streaming ball that ELAC’s goalie Juan Escobar could not control.
The shot left Cerritos College forward Nicholas Escalante with a wide-open shot that scored a goal to give Cerritos a 2-1 advantage.
With some last minute chances for ELAC to try and tie up the game, they were unable to score and keep their play off hopes alive.
The Huskies play at El Camino College Compton Center Friday at 4 p.m. ELAC hosts their last home game of the season against El Camino College, Tuesday, Nov 6. at 3 p.m.