By Stephanie Guevara
In an aggravated clash where men’s soccer saw three red cards, East Los Angeles College lost 3-1 to Cerritos College yesterday at the Weingart Stadium.
In minute 86 of the game, ELAC sophomore fullback Jorge Mejia committed a foul on Cerritos freshman midfielder Alberto Carrillo when both fought for the ball in the air in the keeper’s area. The foul resulted in a penalty kick that angered ELAC players.
Mejia received a red card for the foul.
ELAC freshman midfielder Edwin Vazquez received a second yellow card after insulting the referee for a call he didn’t agree on, and Edward Robles did the same but received a red card.
“When you have players let certain plays or certain aggressions dictate the way they will feel, the become hot heads. They look for the next battle or next collision to try to prove something when there is nothing to prove,” ELAC assistant coach Ricardo Raygoza said.
“Unnecessary fouls hurt the team today.”
Mejia is out for the remainder of season after receiving his second red card of the season.
According to a California Community College Athletic Association rule, a player who gets two red cards during the season will be suspended for the remainder of the it.
“The three red cards on their behalf (ELAC) shows that we were able to keep our composure. We were organized and structured,” Cerritos head coach Benny Artiaga said.
“We took advantage of their (ELAC) wings and we knew that coming here because they have like five or six former Cerritos players.”
ELAC was out of control in the last few minutes, reflecting a different Husky team than the one that had been playing strong offensively and defensively.
“We made things too personal. We didn’t have a bad game, but we made thing personal and we made stupid decisions,” ELAC sophomore goalkeeper Joshua Moreno said.
In minute 54 of the game, Robles took the ball in the right wing, passing all of Cerritos’ defenders.
He then passed the ball to sophomore forward Valentine Mercado to shoot a goal, but freshman goalkeeper Jordan Aldama blocked the shot.
“The score doesn’t dictated the way the game was. Our team played an extremely good game. We had about three easy chances to score but we didn’t capitalize.
“The report we have of them (Cerritos) says if we don’t score on them first, they will make you pay and that’s exactly what happened,” Raygoza said.
After ELAC failed to score on two opportunities in the first half, Cerritos scored twice on ELAC.
Cerritos’ second goal came from a shot from freshman forward Christian Perez that Mejia tried to kick away, but ended in goal.
“We lacked character today. It was not a good day for us,” ELAC goalkeeper coach Andy Gutierrez said.
After ELAC was left with seven men on the field, sophomore midfielder Jerson Maravilla took the ball from half field, passed through all of Cerritos’ defense, and scored ELAC’s goal.
Cerritos is ranked No.1 in the nation and in the South Coast-South Conference.
ELAC now stands 2-1-1 in the South Coast-North Conference and 7-2-5 overall on the season.
The Huskies’ next game is on the road against El Camino College on Friday at 2 p.m.
