Pair of goals lead men’s soccer to victory against Irvine Valley
It took sophomore forward Jason Santana only four minutes to score two goals for El Camino, but those two goals were all his team needed against the Irvine Valley Lasers.
The El Camino men’s soccer team (2-2-1) broke a two-game losing streak as they beat IVC (1-2-1) at Murdock Stadium on Friday, Sept. 8.
This is the Warriors’ first victory since their home opener against Citrus College. In that span of time, EC earned a draw once and lost twice.
The Warriors had a slow start to the game and nearly allowed a goal off of bad passing by the defense.
“We’ve got to stop being sloppy,” EC head coach John Britton said. “We have to be more precise with our passes, more accurate and give the ball away less”.
Sophomore goalkeeper Cesar Amezcua was a key contributor early in the game, finishing the match with eight saves. Meanwhile IVC freshman goalkeeper Braden Peters finished the game with two saves.
Despite multiple scoring chances for both sides, the score at halftime was 0-0.
At the beginning of the second half, Santana put EC on the board first with a goal at the 54 minute mark thanks to a crafty, back-heel assist from sophomore midfielder Cristian Guevara.
Just four minutes later, Santana scored his second goal of the game off of an assist by sophomore midfielder Reyes Jaimes, putting EC up by two goals.
“I feel great. I knew I had to step it up,” Santana said. “I’ve been struggling the last few games so I knew it was that time.”
IVC didn’t let up despite being down by two goals. They finished with 20 total shots and nine shots on target to El Camino’s 10 total shots and 5 on target. IVC drew a penalty kick in the 83rd minute and had a great chance to score, but the ball was kicked wide right of the goal.
“It feels good,” EC assistant coach Ever Morataya said. “I think we deserve some wins before this game, but today were able to finish the chances that were created in the second half. Its definitely a confidence builder.”
The Warriors next match up is on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at home against the Moorpark Raiders (1-1-1).
