Resurgent Vikings defeat ELAC

MONTEREY PARK, CA — East Los Angeles College men’s soccer team lost 2-1 to Long Beach City College and the first half of South Coast Conference play in the books.

The Vikings, the hottest team in the South Coast Conference, have won six of their 10 previous games, the most amongst SCC teams.  ELAC won only three of its previous 10 games and tied four.

East Los Angeles College, 5-3-6 overall and 2-2-3 in the SCC, fell from a fourth place tie with Long Beach to fifth place with the loss. Long Beach (8-5-1, 4-3) remains in fourth place.

In other SCC action, El Camino College Compton Center (5-6-3, 4-1-2) stunned Cerritos (4-7-3, 4-2-1) to move into a first place tie with Mt. San Antonio College.

Compton only had seven shots in the game with Cerritos, but connected on three of them to win handily, 3-0.

Mt. SAC (9-3-2, 4-1-2) was a 4-0 winner against El Camino College (2-7-5, 1-2-4) while Los Angeles Harbor (3-9-2, 1-5-1) rallied to score in the 78th minute in a 2-1 win against Pasadena City College (1-11-2, 1-5-1).

In action last week, ELAC rallied for a 1-all draw against Compton on Oct. 16. Compton scored first, a Francisco Ramirez goal in the 28th minute.

ELAC countered with a goal in the 78th minute. Freshman midfielder Hugo Flores corner kick was perfect to freshman midfielder Martin Oregal who scored on a dolphin header blast into the net, which saved the Huskies from a loss.

ELAC outshot Compton 20-4, had four corner kicks to Compton’s two and had control of the ball 61 minutes to Compton’s 29. “We’re not happy with the tie,” said ELAC sophomore Albert Chamagua, who was injured and did not play. “Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes.”

The Huskies lost at Cerritos, 5-1, on Oct. 13. Freshman forward Carlos Salinas scored the lone Husky goal off an assist by freshman midfielder Jorge Chavez.

ELAC had 18 shots, five from Chavez and three each from Salinas and Chamagua. Cerritos took 13 shots, including three from sophomore forward Christian Carrillo and two from freshman Juan Orozco, who scored two goals for the Falcons.

ELAC is on a four-game winless skid, but can turn it around in the second half of conference play beginning with a win at L.A. Harbor College on Friday at 6 p.m.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia