Elisa Villanueva @BBELISACATS
During the first weekend of September, Las Positas College’s men’s soccer team played in a three-day tournament at Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif. This tournament consisted of eight community colleges around California.
On Friday Sept. 2, the men played their first game against Cerritos College of Norwalk. The Hawks beat the Falcons 2-1, with goals from forward Everado Aguiar with assistance from defensive-man Nick Tucker, forward Marco Neves and from both midfielders Kyle Adafom and Antonio Jiminez. The Hawk’s goalkeepers were Aaron Trujillo and Jose Elizondo.
Saturday’s game was against the home team, Hartnell. The Hawk’s came out with 4-1 loss against the Panthers. Their only goal of the game came from Neves again with an assist from midfielder Mike Hatch. “It felt pretty good. It was a cross from Hatch and I knew on the end of the cross, something good would happen and luckily it resulted in a goal” Neves shared.
The Hawk’s final game on Sunday was versus Irvine Valley College of Irvine. The team was forced to play their game missing four starters from injuries. The men missed the marked with a 2-1 loss against the Lasers. Forward Navid Khamush scored the only goal for the Hawks. “We all tried to motivate each other and grind it out together” Neves also mentioned “Unfortunately, with limited subs we weren’t able to finish with a win but sometimes you have to lose in order to get better”.
All three teams the Hawk’s faced were recent State Champions. “It was a good measuring point to get a better idea of what the best teams are like and where we stand against them” Head Coach Andrew Cumbo responded when asked about the team’s mindset after losing two out of the three games of the tournament.