Huskies Earn Tough Season Opener Win at WLAC

by Cerwin D Haynes

(photos by Henry Caceras; IG: henry_backinaflash)

In her third season helming East LA College's Women's Soccer, head coach Jessica Correll is looking for stark improvements in competitiveness and agression by her team.Thankfully, she got enough of both Friday as the Huskies open their 2023 campaign with a 2-1 win over the Wildcats of West LA College. Forwards Sandy Padron (15') and Abigail Ruiz (72') did the scoring while GK Karen (Zhiqing) Chen (Zhao) turned away seven of eight shots on goal.

In speaking with Henry Caceras after the game, Coach Correll said that the two preseason scrimmages - one against a Division-3 four-year college in Occidental - helped prepare her players for the start of the season.

"We're trying to show our players what they're aspiring to be and what level they're trying to play at," remarked Correll, "even if that means we'll be facing some tough opponents."

HUSKY BITS

• In rebuilding the program, offensive output and execution has taken time to develop. But today's win shows the team may be ready to find the back of the net more often: it was the first time East LA scored more than one goal in a game since the program's return from COVID.

UP NEXT:

East will have a week and a half to savor the win to go with plenty of practice time before their home opener versus Irvine Valley on September 12.