Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first half, the men’s soccer team beat Pasadena City 5-4 Tuesday and keeps playoff hopes alive with only three games left in the season.

EC will host L.A. Harbor at Murdock Stadium tomorrow in its last home game of the season.

EC leads game by halftime

With a 2-0 deficit early in the game, EC managed to turn it around and by the halftime had a 3-2 lead. In the second half EC took a 4-2 lead, but Pasadena never gave up and managed to cut its deficit to 4-3.

In the end, EC came out with the 5-4 win in a game that got a little complicated for the EC team.

“At one point, we were up by two goals,” assistant coach Eddie Barragan said.

“Errors in the back made the score 4-3 but we managed to score one more to win 5-4,” he said.

Team on positive streak lately

The team has been on a positive streak lately, having beaten East Los Angeles Friday and having tied with Long Beach City last Tuesday.

Against East L.A., the team took a 2-0 lead in the first half.

In the second half, East L.A. managed to even up the game, but EC scored two more goals, winning the match 4-2.

“For the first twenty minutes of the second half, we played badly and allowed the other team to tie it up,” coach John Britton said.

“In the final ten or fifteen minutes of the game, we began to focus and scored two more goals,” Britton said.

Against Long Beach, the team had an uphill battle through most of the game after losing a player to a red card early in the match.

EC took the 1-0 lead, but by halftime Long Beach managed to turn the score around and took a 2-1 lead.

EC came out aggressively in the second half and evened up the score 2-2 despite the one-player disadvantage.

“We got together at halftime and came out playing strong for the second half with only ten players,” Britton said

Final goal ties score, 2-2

The final goal came in the last play of the game, making the final score 2-2.

“We played well and created very good plays,” Britton said. “In the last play of the game, we managed to tie the game.”

Playoff hopes are in the balance for the team, but it’s depending on playing solidly over the next three games.

The outcome of these next three games will control the destiny of making it to the playoffs.

“As for playoffs, we are borderline right now; we can’t afford to drop any points.” Britton said. “Our last games are our toughest, but some will be at home,” he said.