Gamez Ties School Record as Warriors Trounce Evergreen Valley in Semifinals

WALNUT, Calif. - The No. 1 seeded El Camino College men's soccer team took care of business on Friday night after defeating Evergreen Valley College 4-0 in the 3C2A State Championship Semifinals hosted at Mount San Antonio College.

Freshman Marvin Gamez scored his second consecutive hat trick on Friday night to lead the Warriors (23-1) over the Hawks (17-4-3).  Gamez leads the state in goals scored with 28 and in points with 66 points. He is also now tied with legendary ECC head coach and player John Britton for goals scored in a single season, which Britton set as a sophomore in 1978. Gamez has scored eight goals in the Warrior's four playoff games and 10 goals for the Warriors inlcuding the SCC Tournament.   

The Warriors will compete on Sunday in their ninth state championship match dating back to 1977 and will be looking to claim the fifth state title in program history.  The Warriors will take on Cuyamaca, who defeated Santa Rosa 3-2 in extra time in the other semifinal match on Friday. The Coyotes were originally the 10th seed from the Southern California Regional. 

Donovan Palomares earned his 16th clean sheet of the season and the Warriors defense have posted their sixth consecutive shutout.  They have not allowed a goal in their last 546:53 minutes. 

The Warriors outshot the Evergreen Hawks 18-6 for the game with eight shots on goal to Evergreen Valley's three on target.

After a couple good chances in the first half the Warriors finally opened the scoring in the 32nd minute.  Diego Garcia sent a cross in from the left side to Marvin Gamez who headed the ball into the net to put the Warriors on top 1-0.

The Warriors came out of the second half hungry for more. The Warriors were rewarded in the 47th minute when Marvin Gamez got his second goal of the game.  Gamez took on a defender on the right side and then dribbled to the middle and curled one into the back of the lower left net to make it 2-0.  This was the eighth time this season the Warriors have scored within 5 minutes of the second half kicking off. 

The Warriors got their third goal in the 61st minute.  Marvin Gamez was in on a long ball that the Evergreen Valley goalkeeper tried to clear but the ball fell to Shingo Nakano who dribbled to the right past the goalkeeper and slotted it into an open net to make it 3-0.

Gamez completed his second straight hat trick in the 71st minute.  From the left side he shot it at the keeper's right and the keeper didn't get enough on it as the ball bounced into the net off the keeper's gloves.

The Warriors and Cuyamaca will square off one final game to conclude the 2023 season on Sunday for the 3C2A State Championship.  Kick-off is set for 2:00 PM at Mt. Sac. The Warriors last played the Coyotes on Nov. 20, 2021 in the first round of the 3C2A Southern California Regionals. The then No. 3 Warriors outlasted the No. 14 Coyotes, 2-1, in extra time at Murdock Stadium.