GCC men’s soccer ended its regular season with a disappointing 6-2 loss to Alan Hancock College on Tuesday.
The loss left the team with a 4-6-1 record in conference play.
According to head coach Joe Agoston, Tuesday’s loss is reflective of the men’s entire season.
Within the first three minutes of the game, Hancock College scored two goals. “If you guys get two goals scored on you in three minutes, mentally you guys are not in the game – and that’s all 11 of you guys,” coach Agoston said to his players after the loss.
Hancock scored two more goals before Glendale got on board. Hector Romero scored Glendale’s first goal of the game halfway through the first half.
Coach Agoston emphasized the unity of the Hancock team as the key to their victory.
“They play better as a team,” Agoston said. “We have a lot of good individual players, but we don’t play together.”
Hancock College did not let up, even though it was up 4-1. Before the first half ended, Hancock scored two more goals, bringing the score to 6-1 at the end of the first half.
The irony of the first half was that Glendale out-possessed Hancock College. “The chance that you guys have; you guys haven’t scored,” Coach Agoston said to his players during halftime.
Glendale had many opportunities to score within the 18 yard-line, yet the shots just didn’t fall in for them.
In the second half, though, the Vaqueros started with new life as their defense kept Hancock from scoring. But the mountain was just too high for the offense to climb. A comeback from a 6-1 deficit would have been nothing short of miraculous.
Early in the second half, Hector Romero scored off of a rebound that was deflected by Hancock goalie Jason Hancock. Romero’s goal brought the score to 6-2.
The score gap, however, did not close up. This resulted from Hancock’s choice to play a defense-oriented strategy.
“It didn’t happen,” Del Cid said, “If you don’t put them away you lose.”
Though Tuesday’s game against Hancock was GCC’s last game of the regular season, its future remains undecided. The team’s playoff-hopes ride on how the other teams in the Western State Conference do in their final games.