Although it was an easy win for the men’s soccer team against Cerritos last Tuesday, the season came to an end with EC missing the playoffs by less than a 1 percent margin.

EC won the game after the referees failed to show up . The rules indicate that the home team is responsible for providing the referees, but failure to do so will result in a loss for the home team.

EC played Compton Nov. 7 and won 1-0.

The only goal of the game was obtained by freshman Adrian Barragan with only three minutes left in the match.

“We played a very simple game,” freshman Claudio Lopez said. “We didn’t have too many complications, it wasn’t anything too drastic.”

Despite four wins and two ties in their last six games, the men’s team didn’t make it to the first round of the playoffs.

“We missed the playoffs by a .021 percentage,” coach John Britton said. “The top twelve teams are the ones who qualify and we were ranked thirteenth.”

Missing the playoffs by such a small margin left some of the players in disbelief.

“Some of the players didn’t believe me when I told them we hadn’t qualified.” assistant coach Eddie Barragan said. “It was close. Some of the teams in the top twelve had four losses all season and we had five.”

The men’s soccer team ended its season with an overall 10-5-4 record. The team would have made it to the playoffs had they obtained one more win or another tie.

“Unfortunately, due to the budget cuts, the amount of teams that qualify to playoffs was reduced from sixteen to twelve,” Barragan said.

Next season the team will have many returning players, including team captain Carlos Espinoza, David Ventri and Pedro Vera.

Also, Adrian Barragan will most likely not be returning next season, Britton said.

Britton said he hopes the team can find the players to fill in the empty spots left behind.

“I’m pretty sure the players will step up to the challenge,” Britton said. “We’ll find players to fill in.”

Although the men’s soccer team didn’t make the playoffs for the second consecutive season, its record this year was better than last season. Britton was proud of the team.

“We’re disappointed we missed the playoffs by so little, but we finished the season strong playing a very tough schedule,” he said.

“It’s a very disappointing situation, but it’s part of the game.” Britton said.