By Jerry Flores
Men’s soccer’s struggling season came to an end with a final 4-12-5 overall record and 1-5-2 in the South Coast Conference-South play.
Individuals did well statistically according to cccaasports.org, but the team fell short from the post season because they won one game in the conference.
“I’m very disappointed. We have to take responsibility (coaches) for these results. When we started playing back in August, myself and the coaching staff believed we had put together a competitive team. We were enthusiastic to finish pretty high in the conference, but the results weren’t what we expected,” said East Los Angeles College head coach Eddie Flores.
The team won its first conference game, but remained winless for the rest of the season.
Husky freshman forward Paulo Macedo Nahashique had a good season. Macedo was included in the conference first team. He started seven out of eight conference games, scored four of the nine goals in the conference, completed one assist and had .444 shots on goal.
“He is a great player (Nahashique). Even though he had struggle scoring, he scored some goals that help the team either win or tie games,” said Flores.
Freshman midfielder Andres Aceves received honorable mention in the conference. He had .200 shots on goal in eight conference games played.
Husky sophomore and captain of the team Jerson Maravilla was also included in the first team of the conference. He started five out of the eight conference games, had one goal, one assist and 10 shots on goal.
The team struggled defensively during the season. They received 20 goals in the eight conference games, according to cccaasports.org.
One of the main issues that affected the team was the lack of scoring. For most of the games the team had many clear opportunities to score, but were unsuccessful because the forwards missed a lot.
“We created many opportunities to score throughout the games, but at the end we couldn’t put the ball in the net. That was our biggest problem for most of the season. One time, one of the referees told me that it was unbelievable how many opportunities we lost during the game (played against Pasadena City College). At the end of the day, if we don’t score, we will not be able to win,” said Flores.
For next season the coaches are primarily looking for forwards and defenders. Only seven players from this season are coming back to the team.
“We really need forwards that can put the ball in the net. We are going to lose two defenders and we have to find their replacements. We will also need some midfielders. A good thing is that the three goalkeepers are coming back, so we don’t have to worry about recruiting more,” said Flores.
Flores said he can’t give high expectations for next season, but he wants a very competitive team that could make it to the playoffs and fight for the championship.