In a 3-1 loss to Long Beach City College Sept. 30, the result did not reflect how close the game was as the Vikings scored with about a minute to go to the final whistle.

“It was a hard fought game and physical both ways,” coach Eddie Barragan said.

EC clung to a 0-0 tie despite being a player short due to a red card with 20 minutes to go in the game.

Freshman Midfielder Scott Sinclair received a red card with 20 minutes to go in a tight game against ELAC for spitting on an opponent after a collision and take down near midfield.

“The referee saw the spit but did not see the cheap shot on the tackle by the ELAC player,” Joe Fernandez said.

“Both teams were very physical, if you do not match the physical play you can not win the game,” Barragan said.

The strength of both defenses kept the game physical throughout, allowing for very few shots on the goal.

“Our communication is working better, we are getting more chances on the ball, to get it in the net,” Chris Lopez said.

Freshman goalie Ishmael Casillas, has been working with coach John Britton’s son Andrew, showed much improvement with his clutch deflections towards the end of the game as the Warriors were short a field player.

“He is a big part of our defensive plan, so we have two days to come up with a replacement, it hurts to lose him,” Britton said.

Some of the other players also shared concerns about losing their defensive anchor in the middle.

“He should have kept his composure and waited until the next tackle, it pretty much let the team down,” Lopez said.

Holding off ELAC for the remainder of the game showed growth and solidarity to avoid their second loss in conference.

“We have a good chance (to beat) Cerritos, we are working well as a team,” Fernandez said. “As long as we battle, we should do well.”

“The team showed great improvement over the game against Long Beach,” Britton said.

The men will travel to Cerritos tomorrow before hosting rival L.A. Harbor on Tuesday.

“A lot was asked of the defense in the last twenty minutes, but we held out and played well,” Britton said.

Sinclair will serve a one game suspension, sitting out Friday’s game against Cerritos.

“Cerritos is one of the top teams in the state, we will have to continue to improve if we want a good result against one of the state power houses,” Britton said.