Men’s Soccer Defeats LA City College to Advance To SCC Semifinals

TORRANCE, Calif. - The No.3 seeded El Camino College men's soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the South Coast Conference Championship Tournament after defeating the No.6 seeded LA City College 2-0 at home on Friday afternoon.

The Warriors (16-2-1) will play the No.2 seeded Cerritos College on Tuesday, November 9th.  The Warriors defeated Cerritos 2-0 at Cerritos in their regular season finale.  

Unlike the previous meeting between both teams that was marred with fouls and cards, the foul count in this match was only 13 to 11.  However, six total yellow cards were issued for the game.

The first half did not have much action with both sides trying to feel each other out.  Towards the end of the first half the Warriors took the lead on a goal by Richard Andrade. 

Brandon Galindo sent a cross into the box from the left side that the Cubs defenders had trouble dealing with.  After a couple bounces the ball came to Andrade who then bounced the ball off an LA City defender and then rifled a shot into the top right corner of the net past the LA City keeper.  

The second half was filled with wide open play with the Cubs aggressively pressing the Warriors which led to the Warriors playing counter-attacking soccer.  Both sides had some attempts on goal but nothing too dramatic.

Finally towards the end of the second half the dramatics picked up tenfold.  Oscar Garcia of the Cubs tried to draw a penalty inside the box in the 88th minute but the referee booked the Cubs player for simulation.  

A couple moments later the Warriors got their second goal of the game to kill the game off.  Brandon Galindo dribbled from midfield and played a ball to Mario Carlos.  Carlos dribbled into the box and beat the keeper on the near post to bury the game at 2-0.  

Luis Garibay made two saves for the game.  Garibay picked up his 12th win and his eighth clean sheet of the season.

The Warriors will head to Cerritos on Tuesday with an opportunity to make it into the South Coast Conference Championship game next Friday.