By Rogelio Alvarez
Men’s Soccer lost to Mt. San Antonio College 3-0 yesterday at home in South Coast-North Conference play.
Elac is now 0-4 in conference play.
“We have a game plan, but players do not want to follow the game plan, which makes it difficult. When the players panic and start doing what they want to do, then they don’t follow up the game plan. I don’t see a lot of positives. The only positive would be that players learned something from (the loss),” Flores said.
According to Flores, this is the first time he’s gone 0-4 in conference play in his 15 years coach men’s soccer. ELAC is now winless in five games.
“There’s definitely a lot of things that we need to work on. Our main one would be playing under pressure. I think teams like Mt. SAC, which are great teams, are always going to have you under pressure. I think if we can get a good result and come out of a flat pressure, we’ll be able to do great things,” ELAC assistant coach Ricardo Raygoza said.
ELAC freshman goalkeeper Alexis Castellanos made two crucial back-to-back saves in the first half to keep the game at 0-0. Castellanos was subbed in the second half with an injury.
“With every loss, we learn as a team. There’s nothing much we can do, but keep going forward and learn as we go,” Castellanos said.
For the majority of the first half, ELAC’s defense prevented Mt. SAC from scoring, but a poor defensive clearance gave Mt. SAC it’s first goal of the match.
The ball bounced off an ELAC player’s foot and gave Mt. SAC sophomore forward Martin Arrieta the opening to head the ball in.
In the second half, ELAC was unable to tie the game and gave up two goals.
“We’ve been through a lot this year. I’m proud of the guys at the fact that regardless of the season, and where we’re at, they’re still responding as best as possible,” Raygoza said.
Many of the players felt that they could’ve done better throughout the game.
“Our main mistake today, is that we don’t follow directions. We try switching things up and that’s when we should be more aware and following directions,” Castellanos said.
ELAC made several substitutions in the second half. The players who came in, made the ELAC offense more dynamic. Raygoza said that the guys showed character in the second half.
ELAC plays this Friday at home against El Camino College at Weingart Stadium at 4 p.m.
“We’re looking to see how El Camino plays, and just prep the guys as best as possible. Maybe move some pieces around based on today’s result,” Raygoza said.
