SUFC Team News #14 – Laguna Niguel, CA
By Dan Minkoff
The cohesion, consistency and chemistry Shoreline United FC built over the last month in UPSL Premier disappeared on Sunday evening in a disappointing 4-0 loss to Laguna United at La Paz Sports Park in Laguna Niguel.
After a tie and two wins in its last three matches, Shoreline United struggled to find that same form while missing six starters and several key subs. With a win, Shoreline would have moved into a tie with Laguna United. Instead, Shoreline dropped to 2-1-4 with 7 points and remains in eighth place in the 11-team SoCal North division while Laguna improved to 4-1-2 with 13 points and solidified its hold on fourth place.
“This one, we need to put it behind us,” said Shoreline United coach Eddie Soto. “It’s a tale of two different teams. We were missing a lot of guys, important players, and you know, today we gave up a couple softer goals early, and we just dug ourselves too big of a hole to get out.”
Laguna United forward Michael Barraza scored in the 11th and 33rd minutes, and then a Shoreline own goal in the 37th minute made the score 3-0 going into halftime. Playing with a short bench, Shoreline United used its two outfield subs early in the second half before Connor Borra suffered a hard foul in the 72nd minute and had to leave the game for treatment. During the five minutes he was off the field, Shoreline played with 10 men and gave up another goal.
“We played a good team, a young team, a fit team, and for us to give up two easy goals like that, and then try to crawl back with two subs, it was always going to be tough,” Soto said.
Shoreline United has a great chance to return to winning ways this Sunday, Oct. 27 when it will host 10th-place Independiente Los Angeles FC at 6:30 p.m. at the LBCC soccer fields. The following week, Shoreline will make the long trek to face first-place Coachella Football Club (date, time and field location still TBD) before returning home to host second-place SoCal United at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9 in the final game of the fall season.
Vamos Shoreline! #ForTheLBC
