With only two regular season games left, El Camino’s women’s soccer team (5-5-2 in conference) defeated city-rival L.A. Harbor College (2-8-2 in conference) with a final score of 3-1 on Friday.

After injuries and lack of communication between the players throughout most of the conference, EC’s playoff goal has vanished.

Ashley Mercado’s absence in the defense after suffering from a knee injury made the team weaker. The co-captain was sidelined for almost one month, and coach John Britton had to rotate players to fill in for Mercado. The result led to the Warriors winning only five games in conference.

As Mercado made her return this week, the team overall played better than most games of the season. They seem to have found how to play together with only two games left, which is unfortunately too late and won’t get them anywhere.

“Without our key players we didn’t feel confident,” freshman midfielder Miranda Ramirez said. “We finally learned to pass better. Overall, I feel that we are a better team and today we played like it. It would have been a better season if we learned how to play with each other quickly.”

In their last match up with LA Harbor on Oct. 13, the final score ended in a 1-1 draw. Sophomore midfielder Tonya Gonzalez was the only player to net the ball against Harbor in that game.

Gonzalez fired 10 shots on target this Friday, and although none penetrated the net, she had the Seahawks’ defense on its toes.

“This season we haven’t had the athleticism and speed we were looking for, many teams outworked us,” L.A. Harbor head coach Diego Souza said. “In today’s game, El Camino played harder than us, they had more heart than we did.”

The Seahawks finished the game with only eight shots on target, while the Warriors finished with 25.

Sophomore midfielder Rocio Najero had two goals in the game. Najero could have had a hat trick but was denied by the Harbor defense.

Overall, the Warriors showed improvement offensively compared to prior games.

“I know we had a few injuries and sometimes a lack of good communication as a team, but there is no reason why we shouldn’t be in the playoffs,” coach Britton said. “Hopefully, these last two games are in our favor so that the girls know what we are capable of.”

The Warriors travel to Cerritos College (11-0-1 in conference) on Tuesday at 1 p.m.