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By Cierra Martinez @CIERRAMARIE26

On Tuesday Nov. 8, friends and family gathered together on a chilly night on the hill across from the Las Positas track to watch the men’s soccer team play against De Anza College.

In only the eighth minute of the first half De Anza’s Diego Medina-Silva scored the first goal to put De Anza up 1-0.  At halftime, the score remained the same. The Hawks could be seen gathering together in a huddle to discuss possible tactics to use in the second half.

“During halftime, I usually give them the first half of that to themselves so they can rest, recover, hydrate and communicate with each other,” men’s head soccer coach Andrew Cumbo said.

“The last six to seven minutes is a combination of tactical instruction and motivation. For the most part, both of these are fairly consistent. However, when you play different teams, sometimes you can make some minor adjustments and then at half time, depending on what the score is, the tactics could change again.”

The second half consisted of shots on goal from both teams but nothing went past the goalkeepers. Finally in the 77th minute LPC’s Javier Hernandez scored the game-tying goal. Although the game ended with a tie, the Hawks didn’t let this bring them down.

“We are on a good, unbeaten streak right now. De Anza was 7th in the country and we just tied them,” Cumbo said. “ Evergreen was 15th in the nation, and we tied against them as well. We are in a good place right now. “

Much of the team’s leadership is credited to the team captains. Marco Neves, Mike Hatch, and Fernando Herrera.

“All three are great players and are very competitive people and good leaders,” Cumbo said.

“Marco helps us by scoring goals, and the other two help us by preventing the opponent from scoring.”

Preparation and communication is a focal point the team focuses on both before and during games. 60 minutes before kickoff, Cumbo goes into the locker room and posts the starting lineup, so the team knows what to expect going in and has some time to prepare for the game.

Cumbo concludes that the team has progressed well throughout the season. The main objective is to go out and play.

“We have had a great season. I think one of the best we’ve ever had at Las Positas,” he said.

The men went 11-6-5 overall.

Their last game of the season also ended in a 0-0 tie against West Valley Nov. 11, but it does not matter as the men will advance to the Nor Cal Regional first round playoff game Saturday Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. at Taft College.

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