Sophomore midfielder Edgar Esquivel found himself surrounded by
defenders and managed to find a bit of space on the right wing giving him just enough space to chip a pass to sophomore forward Andy Nunez.

Nunez then advanced the ball a few yards before taking the clinical shot into the net,
doubling his team’s advantage and all, but clinching the win for EC.

The Warriors (8-1-7, 6-1-3) beat Pasadena City College (5-9-3, 3-6-1) 4-1 at EC on Friday. The win bumped the Warriors back to the top of the South Coast conference.

“(The goals) mean a lot,” Nunez said. “We were practicing a lot on our
finishing and if we didn’t put it in today we would’ve put it in next
game.”

EC was up to 2-0 in minute 22 from identical goals. The goals were
scored by Nunez and set-up by Esquivel.

“Taking a two-goal lead was the turning point of the game,” Nunez said.

“(Pasadena’s) defense just put their heads down they were blaming each
other (after the second goal),” Nunez added. (Pasadena) was just
bickering throughout the whole game on how they had to defend myself,
Isaac, Dani, and all the forwards. It changed the game drastically.”

The second half started slow until sophomore forward Daniel Muro came
on and made an instant impact.

Freshman forward Ryan Zein worked his way into the right side of the penalty box and when the goalkeeper approached him he passed it leftward to a wide open Muro. The number nine tapped it into the net for the 3-0.

“I was making a run so I just tried to get into the best position I
could,” Muro said. “To be honest I wanted to shoot it. If he didn’t
yell I wouldn’t have passed it,” Zein added.

The Warrior rout did not cease as Muro setup a fourth when he chipped
a pass just outside the penalty box to Esquivel who shot it to the
far-right corner of the goal for the 4-0.

“Esquivel sent me the ball and I had good control of it. I saw his run
gave him a good little through ball and he did his job,” Muro said
about his assist.

Pasadena made late charge and were compensated with a consolation goal
in the 81st minute. A cross from the left wing met the Pasadena
forward who tapped it in making it 4-1.

“Our team just got a little cocky and overconfident on the defense and
started dropping our game,” Nunez said. “That’s how every team is;
once they’re winning by a lot they start getting slacky. We just got
too cocky towards the end.”

The win ended EC’s run of three consecutive ties and extended their
unbeaten streak to nine games.

“The win is really good for us. We needed it because next week is
going to be a really difficult game for us at Long Beach,” assistant
coach Darin Dunn said. “The win gives us a little confidence going
into the next games.”

The EC men’s soccer team went into the game ranked tenth, two spots
lower than last week, in the latest California Community College
Athletic Association state poll. The Warriors will play at Long Beach
City College (6-5-5,4-4-2) on Nov. 4.