Hard-Fought Tie Snaps 11-Year Streak in Conference Home-Opener

by Cerwin D Haynes

Despite last Thursday's loss to Santa Barbara City College, East LA College men's soccer head coach Eddie Flores felt the effort the team showed was indicative of the effort the team will need to produce for South Coast Conference play. A good test of that mindset came today in the form of the Falcons of Cerritos College, holders of a six-game win steak along with an 11-game win streak against the home Green.

The Pack's (6-4-2) improved effort couldn't get them the W, but they did put a halt to that 11-season losing streak by tying the Falcons (6-3-2) 1-1. 

ELAC did come within two minutes of dropping yet another game to Cerritos - the Falcons held a 1-0 lead into the 88th minute when the Huskies finally got the right combination of pressure near the Falcons' net. Sophomore F Jahvon Brown came charging upfield with the ball and passed it to sophomore F Eluid Barrera, who got fouled in the box. On the penalty kick, Barrera took a moment to size up GK Juan Pablo Camacho before gearing up for his shot. His kick eluded Camacho's dive attempt, and tied the game.

Before that goal, East LA spent a good portion of the game on the defensive side. "They were the more technical team," said Coach Flores, "but possession-wise at moments we had the advantage." ELAC consistently using good positioning and awareness to continuously deny the Falcons clean set pieces and looks at the net. 

"We had a game plan and we stuck to it, no matter the outcome," beamed Flores. Even though he acknowledged there's still a lot of season left, he feels his squad, "sent a message to the conference".

HUSKY BITS 

• East LA almost took a scoreless tie to halftime, but Miguel Gonzalez squeezed a shot past ELAC freshman GK Milton Salazar for the 1-0 just before the whistles blew for the half.

UP NEXT:

The Huskies will welcome Rio Hondo into Weingart Friday at 2pm to continue conference play.