Photo by Dalia Joudi
Photo by Dalia Joudi

Warriors Draw With No.1 Mt. Sac to Finish Regular Season

TORRANCE, Calif. - The state's No.7 El Camino College battled to a 1-1 draw with the state's No.1 team Mt. Sac College on Tuesday evening at Murdock Stadium.  

With both teams already knowing their seeding heading into the South Coast Conference Tournament, it was a pretty even affair for both teams.

The Warriors (10-1-5, 3-1-4)  had 15 shots for the game. The Mounties (15-0-3, 6-0-2) had 14 shots for the game.  Both teams had two only two shots on goal recorded. The foul count was 14 to 12 in favor of Mt. Sac.   

The Mounties got off to an early start in the 10th minute of the game.  After the Mounties had a shot saved by Juan Montes that he spilled inside the box.  Another Mountie had a shot clanged off the crossbar and the ball came back inside the box.  Montes was taken out of the play on the second shot and Alan Piceno pounced on the loose ball to score his 8th goal of the season.

The Warriors held their nerve and were able to equalize nearly 10 minutes later in the 21st minute.  Melvyn Perez-Cortez played a ball to Eduardo Grados that the defender deflected. Grados was able to grab the ball and dribble it down the Mountie half of the field.  He was able to slot it into the far corner of the net to knot the game up at 1-1.

In the second half both teams had equal opportunities to score but nothing on target except for Jonathan Guardado's shot saved in the first minute of the second half. Kalyl Silva had some good looks on goal but couldn't put the shots on frame.  The Mounties also sent in multiple crosses but weren't able to capitalize on their chances either.

The Warriors are the No.3 seed in the South Coast Conference tournament with 13 points.  Mt. Sac is the top seed with 20 points and Cerritos is the second seed with 17 points. The Warriors will host the No.6 seed, LA Harbor College. The Warriors defeated them 4-1 on the road on October 8th, 2019.  Kick-off is set for 3:00 PM on Friday, November 8th.