With deteriorating field conditions and a steady rainfall, the men’s soccer team (6-3-1) fell to the opposing team from Harbor College.
The Warriors lost the game 3-0, marking its third consecutive loss in conference play.
“I think some of our guys didn’t expect our opponents to be so tough in our conference. It’s a wake up call,” Eddie Barragan, assistant coach, said. “Mental mistakes will cost us against good teams and they’ve figured that out the last three games.”
At halftime, trailing 1-0, the Warriors came out wanting to push more players up for more opportunities to score, but that strategy also left them vulnerable to counterattacks, which the opposing team took advantage of.
“It looked like we gave up in the second half after we gave up that second goal,” Justin Coleman, defender, said. “We need to step up our defense and our forwards need to do more. I’m thinking we got tired. Maybe we need more conditioning in practice.”
With the Warriors’ next opponent being tomorrow at East Los Angeles College at 4 p.m., the coaches know this is no time for players to get down on themselves and they have plenty of chances to get back on track.
“I think we need to be focused more all over the field, we need to make runs for each other more,” Dennis Lundborg, defender, said. “We got to keep possession of the ball more. We also need to play more of a game tempo in practices so we have a good pace in the games too.”
Even though Harbor scored three goals, Barragan said the team’s defense wasn’t to blame for the loss.
“I don’t think our defense had a problem. It was just that we had trouble with our midfield. There was a gap between our midfield and our forwards, which didn’t give enough support to our offense,” Barragan said.
With the current streak of losses, Barragan said the team cannot let its recent results affect its performance.
“You focus on what you did right and tell them what they did wrong,” Barragan said. “They have to be consistent and not put their heads down. I know we can bounce back and we will bounce back.”
With a 2-1 heartbreaker against rival Harbor, the women’s soccer team (5-5) was also dealt its third consecutive loss, in a battle that was both physical and heated.
“It is a big rival against Harbor and it’s always very physical when we play them,” Alicia Sala, goalkeeper said.
The team’s next game will be at East L.A., at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
The referee awarded a penalty kick to Harbor after one of its players was tackled just inside the goalie’s box.
But spectators were voicing their thoughts and opinions down to the field, as it appeared to them that the Harbor player was off sides prior to being tackled.
“We out played Harbor the first half, without a doubt; we controlled the ball for 43 minutes,” Alicia Sala, goalkeeper, said. “We just had a little breakdown on defense and they scored. Our defense got caught sleeping.”
Even if it was not the right call, Sala said they cannot blame it for the loss.
“Although their player was off sides, we did foul her, but we can’t blame the refs for things we should have prevented.”
Despite the Warriors’ losing, the team had many shot attempts on goal that could not find the back of the net.
“We were working hard to take shots, but everywhere we shot, their goalie was there,” Vanessa Reid, forward, said.
Fate Sy, midfielder, said the team needs to forget the loss and just focus on the next game.
“We try and stay positive and just keep doing what we are doing. We just need to forget this game and move on to the next one because its anyone’s game to win.”