The Warriors bolted out of the gate Friday attacking the Huskies’ defense and establishing an early lead they would not lose.

EC men’s soccer team won 2-1 last Friday when it hosted East Los Angeles College.

“I think for about 70 minutes we were the best team and I am happy that we kept the ball,” assistant coach Ever Morotaya said. “But we could’ve finished more; we should’ve at least put two more goals away.”

The momentum was in the Warriors favor at the start as an attacking play from the left wing setup the first goal.

Freshman midfielder Carlos Rosales crossed the ball to sophomore Andy Nuñez who headed it into the net in the sixth minute.

“Our performance was pretty good the intensity was up and we were pressuring for the ball from the first to the last,” Nuñez said. “We didn’t give up on any 50-50 chances and we just kept the pressure high since the beginning of this one.”

EC continued pressuing for a second goal and were awarded for its effort when freshman midfielder Isaac Lopez fed sophomore forward Daniel Muro through the middle and the striker chipped it past the goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead.

The team worked hard for the second goal Muro said.

A goal could’ve been scored by either team as East L.A. also came close to an equalizer around the half hour mark Lopez said.

“The other team actually had an opportunity a couple of minutes before and we scored right before about ten minutes from the half. It’s really good to go in 2-0 at halftime,” Lopez added.

The Huskies pulled a goal back early in the second half creating an close finale to the match.

“Obviously there’s 10 minutes left and they’re losing 2-1. It doesn’t matter at that point. They’re pushing up numbers (to seek an equalizer) and we were just playing to counter a lot to see if we could get that third goal. We created the chances but we couldn’t put them away,” Morotaya said.

EC had a goal disallowed for a handball and a strike cleared off the goal line in the last 30 minutes of the game giving East L.A. a lifeline at the end of the game.

“We finished pretty strong it’s just that we need to finish and score more goals,” Nuñez said. (When we have) those one on one chances against the keeper we have to be able to score those, because we don’t know if they’ll score another and tie the game and that’s what we don’t want.”

The Warriors were booked for a yellow card twice in the second half, during that time the referees began to card players on both sides more often.

“When the game gets physical like that you gotta make sure to keep your head up. Some players got yellows and Ever did well to sub them out,” Lopez said. “You just gotta keep your defensive shape knowing that your up 2-0 and in the lead. All you have to worry about is working defensively I think that’s what won us the game.”

The Warriors see this win as a step forward after suffering a loss against Mt. San Antonio (5-1-3) the week before Lopez said.

“Now that were one and one (in the conference) after Tuesday’s loss, hopefully we can take the momentum from this win and get a result,” Lopez added

EC Men’s Soccer team was ranked 9th in the Southern California 2014 California Community College Athletic Association Men’s Soccer State and Regional Poll.

EC’S South Coast Conference record is now 1-1 and its overall record is 3-1-4.

They’ll host Long Beach City College (2-3-3, 0-2) this Friday at 4 p.m.

The team will look to improve on offense and defense going into its game against LBCC and improve it’s conference record.