Men’s Soccer Blitzes Palomar to Score Dominant Win

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College stayed undefeated on the season with a dominant 5-1 non-conference victory over visiting Palomar on Friday afternoon at the ECC Soccer Field.

Marvin Gamez had one goal and two assists as five different players recorded a goal in the victory. Robert Baker made two saves early en route to his fourth win of the year in net.

The Warriors got started early as Aldahir Rua opened the scoring in the sixth minute with his first goal of the season, a left-footed low laser tucked into the far post past Comets goalkeeper Amanueal Kidanemariam to make it 1-0.

But the Comets caught a break 10 minutes later as Warriors defender Ricardo Diaz let his arm get away from his body as it contacted the ball inside the ECC box, giving the Comets a penalty kick.

Matt Esposito would take the shot and fire it to the right side as Baker dove in the opposite direction to knot things up at 1-1.

But the Warriors would reclaim the lead five minutes later on a beautiful goal from Diego Martinez. The ball found Gamez on the right side one-on-one with the Palomar keeper. Gamez leapt in the air and got his right foot on the ball off a high bounce, getting past Kidanemarian but a Comets defender was able to knock the ball away before it crossed the line.

Unfortunately for the Comets, the ball bounced to Martinez who unleashed a bicycle kick to stuff the ball into the net and put the Warriors up once again, 2-1.

Gamez would add another goal in the 34th minute with his absolute brilliance, beating a defender one-one-one and firing a left-footed blast to the far post for a 3-1 advantage and ECC would cruise from there.

Alek Palomares and Sebastian Gomez would cap the scoring for the Warriors to secure the team's third straight win and fourth in five matches to start the season.

They will return to action on Tuesday afternoon as they host Glendale for a 4 p.m. kickoff.