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At home for the first time this year, the men’s soccer team missed numerous second-half scoring chances to finish the game in a 1-1 tie with the Los Angeles Mission College Eagles at Robinson Stadium on Sept 4th.

The Eagles were the first on the board, with a simple one-two pass in the 15th minute.  Juan Gomez made a perfect cross across the 6-yard box to connect with Fabian Murillo patiently waiting at the far post to easily tap it in.

It wasn’t until the second half that the Lancers got on the board with a quick pass from Irving Gonzalez to Zachery Larson who hit the ball first time from the 18 yard line into the back of the Eagles net.

“The players worked hard,” said Larson, “but we just couldn’t get the result we wanted.”

During the end of the first half and all through the second half, Larson broke free again and again down the right flank to cross into the Eagles 18-yard box.  Alternatively, when the ball was knocked out of bounds, Larson was able to toss the ball all the way into the penalty area with his long throwing ability.  Most of these crosses ended up on the head of Irving Rosales,

In the 41st minute of the first half, one of the crosses almost paid off as a heavily guarded Rosales was able to connect with a header, but placed the ball just past the far post.

With 10 minutes to play, Luis Flores was able to get a strong shot across the face of goal while surrounded by Eagle defenders, but the Eagle keeper was able to make a diving save.

“This game, not so great in the first half,” said coach Edger Manvelyan, “but we picked it up in the second half, we got more opportunities … we are coming along, we are still getting to know one another … we have better depth than last year, and defensively we are much stronger … but we are coming along, we are working really hard, one game at a time.”

But despite the equalizer, and the numerous other chances on goal in the second half, the Lancers were not able to find a go-ahead goal.

Lancer Kevin Figueroa received a yellow card in the first half for disagreeing with a call by the referee, and in the second half Lancer Edgar Menendez received a yellow card for a hard tackle.

This is the second game for the Lancers this season.  The season opener was played away in Santa Barbara, with the Lancers losing 1-2.  “I was very happy,” said Coach Manvelyan about the game in Santa Barbara,  “We had many opportunities. It was unfortunate that the last five minutes we gave up a goal.”

 

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