Men’s soccer looks to make a push towards the playoffs
Freshman forward Daniel Ramirez moves the ball upfield in the Hawks 5-0 Victory against the College of Sequoias on Oct. 9. The Hawks have picked up power points in all four of the games in their non conference schedule over the last two weeks.
The men’s soccer team came into the season with the talent and confidence that they could win their conference and make another trip to the playoffs.
With the conference season half way through, the Hawks find themselves in fourth place and fighting to pick up power points in non conference play this week before they return to close their season with five more conference games.
“We gotta get power points, power points are important for playoffs,” said freshman midfielder Dominic Maestretti.
Each conference champion gets an automatic bid to the playoffs. The remaining teams are then chosen by a complicated matrix of points given based on the record of the teams they played at the time and whether it was a win lose or draw.
The Hawks are 1-2-2 in conference play so far this year but still have five games remaining and with San Joaquin Delta in first place at 4-0-1, it could be tough for the Hawks to find their way back to the top of the heap.
This makes their last second 3-2 loss to Delta on a penalty kick on Oct 5. that much more painful.
“I thought we probably outplayed them for a good 80 to 85 percent of the game,” said Head Coach Ron Preble. “The problem was they grabbed some moments and in their moments, that’s when they did the damage.”
The Hawks have also been hampered by injuries and academic suspensions this season which Preble said may have led to a crucial two game losing streak, including that loss to Delta.
“We’ve had some stuff going on behind the scenes that have kind of disrupted us a little bit,” Preble said.
Even with those off field issues Preble and his team are confident that they have righted the ship and are ready for the second half of the season.
“We’ve kind of settled in and settled down and now guys are finding their form again,” Preble said.
The Hawks will look to pick up those much needed points this week before finishing out the season with one more game against each conference opponent and if they can get some wins they should be in good shape.
“Keep playing the way we play, trust our system and the results will come our way,” said sophomore forward Francisco Comparan.