By Stephanie Guevara
Men’s soccer ended its season with a bitter 6-1 loss on the road to Mt. San Antonio College on Friday.
East Los Angeles College’s only goal was scored in the 65th minute by sophomore winger Luis Alvarado.
“It’s difficult to say that our season wasn’t great, but overall we tried our best and maybe our best wasn’t enough. People out there know we tried. They know we had the heart to win, but the results weren’t the best and we couldn’t get them,” said Alvarado.
Mt. SAC midfielder Axel Mendez scored an early goal in the 8th minute that made the ELAC defense go haywire.
Mt. SAC scored two more goals within 26 minutes, which demoralized the Huskies.
“We entered the game unfocused, which is what affected us the most. We committed a foul inside our area, which resulted in a goal in the first minutes of the game. That really lowered our moral,” said sophomore forward Cesar Alvarez.
In the majority of games ELAC played this season, when the opposing team scored the first goal, it was hard for the Huskies to make a comeback. This game wasn’t the exception.
ELAC’s frustration of not being able to control the game carried into the second half. Husky head coach Eddie Flores said that part of the loss was due to yet another change in the alignment.
“We started with a 3-5-3 to try to play (Mt. SAC), but at the end of the day, we probably should have stayed with a 4-4-2,” said Flores.
In the two games that ELAC won, the Huskies played with a 4-3-3 alignment, where the whole team touched the ball more and the defense was stronger.
ELAC players said this game doesn’t define their overall season.
“Today’s game was about coming and finishing the season strong. Obviously Mt. SAC isn’t an easy team. The result doesn’t show how we played this whole season, but at the end of the day, (our) team played well and that’s all that matters. We came out, did our job, and we leave satisfied,” said sophomore defender Jorge Chavez.
Mt. SAC head coach Juan Sanchez said ELAC is a disciplined team that discomforted them 0n some occasions.
“ELAC is always a tough opponent. They always make it very difficult, and they make adjustments to get us off balance. I don’t think the 6-1 is indicative of how good they are. They play us tough at home,” said Sanchez.
ELAC’s final overall record is 2-10-9.