Warriors’ Season Ends on Penalty Kicks against Mt. SAC

TORRANCE, Calif. --- No. 4 El Camino College saw its season come to an end on Tuesday afternoon after falling to No. 5 Mt. San Antonio in penalty kicks at the ECC Soccer Field.

The Warriors (17-2-3) and Mounties (15-6-2) battled to a 2-2 draw after 120 minutes of game time, necessitating a penalty kick shootout to decide who would advance to take on No. 1 Cerritos on Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the Mounties drilled all five of their attempts while the Warriors missed their first, allowing the Mounties to advance 5-3.

It was an even match for the two South Coast Conference foes with each time having golden chances in the two overtime periods to go in front.

In the first extra period, the Warriors had a great chance as a cross was sent through the box and Mario Carlos just missed a redirect attempt in front of the net that would've put ECC in front.

In the second overtime, it was the Mounties who nearly went ahead twice.

In the 108th minute, Emiliano Gutierrez smacked a header off a corner kick to Donovan Palomares' right, where Carson Nguyen was standing to keep the ball from going in the net.

Then, in the 116th minute, Andrew Vazquez blasted a header off a corner kick that went off the crossbar and bounced off Donovan Palomares' back. A foul was called in the ensuing scrum in front of the net to squash the danger. It was the last quality chance by either side before the teams went to penalty kicks.

In the shootout, Alex Mendez beat Palomares to put the Mounties up and then Daniel Ramirez, who entered the game in the 118th minute, stuffed Ty Kerns' attempt to keep Mt. SAC up 1-0 after the first round. It proved to be the difference as neither team would miss the rest of the way with Jacob Cervantes clinching the shootout for the Mounties in the fifth round, beating Palomares to the left side.

For the Warriors, Nguyen and Mario Carlos each scored while Mendez and Jason Garcia were the goal scorers for the Mounties in regulation.

Palomares finished the match with seven saves while Mounties' starter Jacob Cardenas stopped four Warriors shots.

The Warriors finish the season with a 17-2-3 overall record, the best winning percentage (.841) for the program in head coach Mike Jacobson's tenure which began in 2018.