Largest Margin of Victory in Ten Years as ELAC Routs Porterville

by Cerwin D Haynes

The phrases, "dominant", "undefeated at home so far", and "largest margin of victory since..." are not the kinds of verbiage East LA College women's soccer is familiar with in the post-Covid era. Yet, in the Huskies' (4-6-1) explosive 7-0 shutout of a fledgling Porterville College (1-6-2) program, all three phrases came into play.

They were indeed dominant: the home Green applied the kind of tenacious offensive pressure that opponents had gotten used to putting on them over the past four seasons. ELAC took 38 shots and had 21 SOGs, compared to just two shots and one SOG for the visiting Pirates. The Huskies challenged Porterville's passing lanes and dribbles, keeping the ball on their offensive half of the field for virtually all of the first half. Whenever Porterville booted a goal kick, East LA beat their opponents to the spot, getting a body in front of the ball and kept Porterville from transitioning defense to offense.

Sophomore MF Jennifer Gallardo had herself a hat trick along with an assist - increasing her team lead in goals (8) and points (23). Jennifer's sister Jacky (freshman MF) scored two goals while reserve sophomore MF Nayleah Gonzalez had a goal and an assist. It was ELAC's largest margin of victory in 10 years (the 2015 blew out EC-Compton 8-0 late in that season).

With the win, the Pack remains undefeated at home so far at 4-0. Granted, Huskies head coach Ramon Rivas put together a soft non-conference schedule to help build confidence in a team that hadn't had any in a long time. With that said, it's been at least 11 years since ELAC's women ventured into October undefeated at Weingart Stadium.

HUSKY BITS

• East's Freshman GK Jacqueline Camarena was hardly challenged in this one. She recorded a save on the only SOG she faced, as that came in the second half when Coach Rivas dipped deep into his reserves with a big lead.
• Facing Porterville reminded East LA of where they were as a program just a year ago: starving for wins while consistently being dominated by opponents. Unlike ELAC, however, the Pirates women's soccer program is still new, having began play in 2022. 
• Coach Rivas has preached process over results this season. Despite the blowout win, Rivas saw many opportunities for improvement as conference play approaches. He remarked that his squad "should have scored more," which sounds hard to believe on the surface until one reads through the game log and noticed how many Husky shots hit the post or crossbar. ELAC's coaching staff also noted missed opportunites to develop set pieces in the offensive zone.

UP NEXT:

The Pack will rest for a week and prepare for South Coast Conference play next Tuesday, when the Vikings of Long Beach City College come into Weingart. They'll take the pitch next Tuesday at 4pm (the men will play at 1:30pm).