Men's soccer ends in a tie

The Santa Monica College men's soccer team recorded their second tie of the season last Friday with a 1-1 finish against the El Camino College Warriors. The Warriors started off with aggressive attacks, making the Corsairs work tirelessly on the defensive end, and kept the ball on SMC's end of the field for the majority of the first period.

After the first half, the Corsairs came back full of energy and encouragement with well-planned attacks and great passes.

Oskar Martinsson, a freshman forward from Sweden, scored the first goal of the game in the second half to put SMC up, 1-0.

“We had a pretty good talk in the locker room and coach [Pierce] told us we need to open up and we need to make some better runs behind the defenders and take it easy," said Martinsson on the team's energy following halftime.

The Corsairs played energetically until they suffered a critical blow to freshman midfielder Orhan Basak who injured his knee. The injury sparked a small debate from head coach Tim Pierce who questioned the referees for what he felt was more than just an accidental injury.

The sudden loss of Basak threw the Corsairs off balance and gave the Warriors a late advantage which resulted in El Camino scoring a goal and tying up the game.

Kevin Alonzo, the Corsairs sophomore goalkeeper, was unable to hold off the Warriors offensive attack on the game-tying play.

“I was feeling pretty good until they scored," said Alonzo. "That is a dangerous lead to hold especially with a team like that, that just attacks, attacks, and attacks. We tried our best, one little mistake cost us, and we paid for it."

According to Alonzo and Martinsson, the team has a good base defensively, but they need a little more work with their offensive attacks.

“We need help up top,” said Alonzo.

“We've got to score more goals to win," added Martinsson.

Following Friday's tie, the Corsairs defeated Oxnard College, 3-0, in their first conference game of the season.

The win brought the Corsairs record to 2-1-2 and near the top of the pack in the Western State Conference in the early goings.

They will match up next against the Moorpark College Raiders at home on Friday Sept. 20 at 1 p.m.