With the loss of freshman midfielder Scott Sinclair, the undermanned men’s soccer squad fell short on Friday against Cerritos, allowing goals on errors by the inexperience of the midfield.
Losing to Cerritos 2-0 on Friday and a loss to rival L.A. Harbor College 4-1 at home Tuesday, the Warriors are looking to bounce back with a win Friday against Pasadena City College at home.
“We defended stubbornly, unfortunately, we made two mistakes that led to goals,” coach John Britton said.
Giving a valiant effort, sophomore defenseman Simon Hoffman stepped into a new role, going from defensive sweeper to midfielder.
“We have been shooting ourselves in the foot and as a result our opponents have been shooting it in the goal,” Britton said.
The first goal made against EC was due to a poor effort defensively on a ball that was headed the wrong way, allowing an easy opportunity on the goal.
“(Cerritos) is a very quick team. We kept pace with them for the first half,” Hoffman said.
Early on, sophomore defenseman Freddy Godinez was injured on a tackle play, leaving the game with an undisclosed injury.
Playing with more focus on the defensive end, EC was not able to get shots on the goal like they would have liked.
Freshman midfielder Juan Villalobos kept the ball moving across the midfield filling the gap left by Sinclair.
Against Harbor, the game started out rough, when the referee handed out three yellow cards and one red card in the first half of play.
The red card was assigned to coach Eddie Barragan for unsportsmanlike conduct as he was sent off the sidelines halfway through the first half. Britton stepped in to take over the coaching duties.
Adding another suspension, freshman midfielder Mark Mendoza was kicked out of the game by getting two yellow cards. Both him and Barragan will not be on the sidelines for tomorrows game against Pasadena, with each serving a one-game suspension.
“It is frustrating giving up such sloppy goals. We did not concentrate on set plays well,” freshman midfielder Tom Browne said.
“Unfortunately, (Barragan) talked too much, they would have lost a player (to a red card) if he had stopped talking,” freshman Joe Fernandez said.
Barragan, trying to protect his players, argued with the referee about a hard foul that resulted in a free kick and no card.
“The communication of the players let us down today and Harbor wanted the game more,” Britton said.
The physicality and will to win was one-sided as EC was not able to hold off Harbor in the second half, giving up two more goals.
“We need to keep our heads in the game. We were out of sync and made them look good,” Fernandez said.
Godinez, who did not play against Harbor on Tuesday, should be back on Friday to face Pasadena at home.
Missing early opportunities with penalty kicks, the Warriors are now 1-4 on penalty kicks for the season, something Britton said the team must work on before Friday’s game.
“We need to work through adversity by playing our positions and getting not frustrated so easily,” Britton said.
