Despite losing their last two games at the Saddleback Tournament to Santa Monica and Modesto , the Warriors bounced back and defeated L.A. Trade Tech 21-8 to earn the first home victory of the season.

Almost every player on the team got a chance to play and everyone made significant contributions on offense and defense to earn that victory.

“We played one of our easier opponents, L.A. Trade Tech, so it gave me a chance to get everyone some playing time; we even played all four of our goalies,” coach Corey Stanbury said.

Although freshman David Olson is the starting goalie, he was joined by Artis Coleman, Osvaldo Reyes and Jose Bahena in front of the net throughout the game against Trade Tech.

The foursome combined for nine saves and held the L.A. Trade Tech offense to eight points, giving up only two scores during the second half of the match.

“(Trade Tech) was not a very well rounded team and only had one great shooter so it was easy for us to key in on him and shut him down in the second half,” Olson said.

The defense was given a huge advantage as the offense gave them a 9-2 lead after just one quarter of play.

“We always start the match out strong and play competitively, but we need to concentrate on keeping that initial energy and excitement throughout the entire game,” Coleman said.

Offensively, more than half of the team had scored at least one goal against its opponents and combined for a total of 21 goals.

The high scorer of the game was Steven Whitcombe with five goals, but he was joined by Jeff Craver, Alex Heck, Daniel Bender, Kevin Ulloa and Shane McCarter each adding two goals.

“The defense of Trade Tech was not very good and they only had one man on the bench to sub in, so by the end of the game their players were worn out,” Olson said.

There are still many games and a few tournaments left to play this year, and as the season progresses, so does the cohesiveness of the team.

“This is a lot different than playing in high school because the team has to start fresh and needs to learn how to play with each other, but it is getting easier after every game,” Olson said.

As time passes, the men can learn their respective limitations and allow every player to know what they need to do on offense and defense to execute their game plan effectively.

“I am beginning to know what I can and can’t expect from my defense so now I know what I need to do as a goalie to keep our opponents offense from scoring.” Olson said.

Whether the team wins or loses, it always goes over the game and figure out areas it could have improved on.

“As a team, we do not get ahead of ourselves. We just take it easy, work on our plays and prepare for our next opponent even if we win.” Coleman said.

The Warriors hosted Chaffey College yesterday, but results were not available at press time.

The men’s next match is Wednesday Oct. 22 at 3 p.m. at Long Beach City College.