With the playoffs already out of reach, it wasn’t difficult to see why the Warriors didn’t play as hard as they usually do, team captain Tony Sandoval said.
The Warriors lost to Compton 2-1 on Friday at Murdock Stadium in the final game of the season.
Assistant coach Eddie Barragan attributed the team’s performance to its recent 3-0 loss against Cerritos.
That loss quashed all hopes of making it to the playoffs.
“We played soft, we were not really focused and our intensity wasn’t as good,” Barragan said.
Coach John Britton said it was like the team “was playing a preseason game.”
To make matters worse, the Warriors were without three of their starters, most notably Sandoval.
Sandoval was out with a groin injury he sustained in the Cerritos game.
“We played with our heads down,” Sandoval said. “We just wanted to get it over with, we just gave up.”
Sandoval added with the hopes of making the playoffs lost, the Warriors didn’t play with the intensity they usually do.
Carlos Ruiz, sophomore midfielder, scored the lone goal for the Warriors in the first half.
The officials ruled an indirect pass when the goalkeeper picked up the ball with his hands when his own teammate passed it back to him, which is not allowed.
Ruiz scored easily on the violation, but it was not enough to get the team going.
Compton quickly responded to Ruiz’s goal with one of its own, regaining the lead.
A Compton player got his second yellow card of the game, resulting in a red card during the second half.
However, the loss of a team member for Compton was not an advantage taken by EC.
Neither team scored in the second half of the game.
The Warriors didn’t get many chances to score, but when they did, they failed to take advantage of it.
The team finished the season with a record of 6-10-5.
If the Warriors had won their last two games, they would have had a shot to make the playoffs, which begin next week.
EC finished with a record of 3-6-5 in conference play.