Glendale college men’s soccer struggles in shutout loss to L.A. Harbor College
NORTHEAST GLENDALE — Any semblance of a silver lining would be welcomed by the members of the Glendale Community College men’s soccer team. Three matches into the season and it appears they have stumbled more than Coach Joe Agoston would care to witness.
Agoston certainly wasn’t pleased with what he saw Tuesday night, as Erik Medina recorded a hat trick to lead visiting L.A. Harbor College to a 6-0 nonconference win against Glendale college at Sartoris Field.
“I’m very disappointed,” said Agoston, whose team finished with one shot on goal and dropped to 0-3. “We are still tinkering with our lineup, but it’s got to come from them.
“We seem to make a lot of critical mistakes. We are unable to maintain ball possession and we can’t build an [offensive] attack.”
The Vaqueros, who are seeking their first winning season since 2003 when they went 12-5-4 and last appeared in the Southern California Regionals, have been outscored, 15-2, in nonconference contests against Irvine Valley, Cypress and Harbor.
It marked the first time the Vaqueros, who were making their home debut, were blanked this season.
Harbor (4-0) took advantage of a Glendale turnover that led to the first goal of the match. Harbor’s Joey Martin picked off an errant pass by a Glendale defender and threaded a perfect pass to Medina, who beat Glendale goalkeeper Julian Ortega in the 21st minute.
Medina then scored on a penalty kick in the 40th minute to extend Harbor’s advantage to 2-0.
Harbor did not yield a shot on goal in the first half. In fact, Glendale’s lone shot on goal came in the 51st minute by Genaro Barrientos.
Medina completed his hat trick in the 57th minute when he headed in a free kick by Gabriel Guevara.
Harbor Coach Bill Barlow said Medina provides his team with several dimensions.
“He’s just got good all-around skills,” said Barlow, whose team recorded its second shutout this season. “He can shoot well with both feet and he’s got a lot of speed off the ball.
“I thought we played pretty solid. We got that first goal and we started to stretch them out. We could basically do what we wanted.”
Harbor finished with three goals in a 21-minute stretch in the second half. Damien Bell made it 4-0 in the 61st minute and Gima Terrance followed with a goal in the 75th minute.
Juan Perez closed out the scoring on a penalty shot in the 82nd minute.
In its first two matches, the Vaqueros scored first. Those leads were short lived before the Vaqueros failed to provide any offense punch Tuesday.
“You can only go so low,” Agoston said.
Glendale will next participate in a nonconference road match at 4:30 p.m. today against host Chaffey College before returning home for a nonconference contest against Fullerton College at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Vaqueros will then begin conference play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against host College of the Canyons.
