ELAC men's soccer falls short

MONTEREY PARK, CA — The East Los Angeles College men’s soccer team lost to Cerritos College in the final game of South Coast Conference play, 1-0, in a game rescheduled from Nov. 5.

Cerritos failed to show up to the Nov. 5 game thinking the game was Nov. 6 according to an unidentified Cerritos coach.

The Huskies (9-6-6, 6-5-3) dropped from No. 19 to No. 20 in the South Region poll as a result and needed to finish No. 16 to get a guaranteed postseason bid. The sixteen playoff bids will be announced Monday night.

SCC champion Long Beach City College (13-6-2, 9-4-1) and second place Mt. San Antonio College (13-5-3, 8-3-3) are in the playoffs. Cerritos (7-10-4, 7-5-2) ended the regular season with four shutouts (three wins and a tie) to take third in the SCC.

Entering the Cerritos game, ELAC was on a roll having won four-consecutive games after a loss to Mt. SAC, then ranked No. 2 in the nation.

ELAC out-played and out-shot Cerritos tonight in the first half, but couldn’t finish plays to score. Cerritos returned the favor and controlled possession of the ball in the final 45 minutes and outshot ELAC 11-7.

The Falcons scored a goal in the 80th minute, when freshman Mark Cruz (Jefferson HS) booted the ball past the ELAC goalkeeper off an assist by Ricardo Colin.

Both teams had chances to score in the final 10 minutes, but couldn’t connect.

Sophomore Albert Chamagua (Glendale HS) led the Huskies in shots on goal.

Long Beach won its first SCC title since 2006 on Monday, then hosted and lost to ELAC yesterday 1-0. ELAC scored 27:49 into the game when freshman midfielder Jorge Chavez (L.A. Cathedral HS) connected from a perfect pass from Chamagua.

The Huskies outshot Long Beach 10-9, with three shots coming from freshman forward Valentin Mercado (Animo Ralph Bunche Charter HS).

Freshman forward Jovani Alvarez (Colorado Lakewood HS) had two shots (one shot on goal) as did sophomore midfield Alexis Cubias (Jefferson HS) and Chavez. Chamagua had the other shot.

ELAC freshman keeper Joel Magana (Jefferson HS) had three saves.

In previous action ELAC defeated El Camino College Compton Center 2-1 on Nov. 10 and El Camino College 3-0 on Nov. 3.

Compton opened up the scoring in minute 14 when Ludvin Gudiel scored from an assist by Alfredo Zuniga.

Alvarez scored two goals for the Huskies, the first an unassisted blast in the 44th minute and another in the 51st minute from an assist by freshman Christian Fierros (Schurr HS). Chamagua had two shots on goal for the Huskies while Chavez added two shots.

Against El Camino, ELAC scored a goal in the first half at minute 33 from Mercado with the assist from freshman forward Jose Gracia (Animo Pat Brown Charter HS).

In the second half ELAC scored in the 67th minute when Alvarez hit the net off an assist by Chamagua. Five minutes later freshman midfielder Javier Gutierrez (Montebello HS) scored for the Huskies from an assist by freshman midfielder Alvaro Torres Pera (Cali, Columbia San Luis HS).

ELAC outshot El Camino 16-8. Husky keeper Magana had seven saves.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia