By Miguel Dominguez
Cypress College gave East Los Angeles College’s soccer team it’s second straight loss.
The Huskies lost by a goal and now have two wins, four losses, and two draws on the season.
Husky goalkeeper Santiago Pagnutti was tested seconds into the start of the game when Andres Sandoval missed his shot wide off the far post.
“What we tried to do in training, we tried to execute here was to possess the ball,” said Head Coach Christian Rus.
Husky defender Luis Zometa came out of the game when he cleared the ball with his head and got kicked by one of Cypress’ players.
Zometa did not return to the game. A couple of clear opportunities came for Cypress when forward David Bonat was left unguarded and missed a header.
A few minutes later, defender Logan Garcia missed another wide-open header.
Those were the only opportunities in the half for both teams. The Huskies struggled offensively due to Cypress putting pressure on the team.
That’s one of the reasons why the Huskies could not maintain possession of the ball.
The Huskies were forced to pass balls that led to turnovers due to the pressure.
Husky forward Jahvon Brown did not receive a decent pass from his teammates.
Brown struggled to get through the defensive line. Cypress defenders pressed Brown and double teamed him on loose balls, which made it difficult to win balls for Brown.
Fifty-two minutes into the second half, the first and only score of the game came from Cypress forward Oliver Meza.
Meza got through both defenders using his speed and was left alone against the Husky goalkeeper. Meza shot the ball on the far post away from Pagnutti for a goal.
Pagnutti saved six of the seven shots from Cypress.
Cypress was closer to scoring another goal than ELAC, tying the game.
Pagnutti saved two difficult shots that could have extended Cypress’ lead.
The intensity of the game increased when Meza shoved Husky defender Jason Alcaraz out of bounds.
The Husky bench shouted at the referee for giving Meza a yellow card. Alcaraz and Meza then exchanged a few words and shoved each other before their teammates intervened.
They both received a yellow card for their altercation.
The Huskies committed 17 total fouls in the game. Seven fouls came in the first half and 10 in the second.
Only two yellow cards were given to the Huskies. Cypress’ assistant coach received a yellow card when he made a comment to one of the assistant referees for the fouls that were committed by the Huskies.
He argued that not enough cards were given to Huskies for the total amount of fouls that were committed.
The Huskies had an opportunity to score when one of their players shot the ball from outside the box and missed the far post.
The Husky bench sighed as they nearly scored. The game ended 1-0.
“I thought we were better in the first half than the second half,” Head Coach Eddie Flores said.
The team looked aggressive and had chances at a goal but could not finish the shots.
Cypress continued to maintain possession of the ball, much like the first half.
The Huskies just didn’t have the same momentum as in the first half when they played the second half.
The Huskies will go on to play Glendale College on Friday. The game will start at 5 p.m.