El Camino takes over No. 1 seat in CCCSIA men's soccer rankings after upset; Nine of top 10 remain the same

SAN BERNARDINO - Even the best teams in every sport have a night off. A minor hiccup in their march to glory.

For the defending 3C2A Men’s Soccer Champions, El Camino, it appears their first loss in more than a year was just that – a hiccup.

The Warriors have bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Compton to reel off five consecutive victories – four against ranked opponents – to move back into the No. 1 spot of the biweekly California Community College Sports Information Association poll, as voted on by sports information professionals.

In the past two weeks, El Camino has beaten No. 3 Mt. San Antonio, No. 6 Long Beach City, No. 15 Los Angeles City, and No. 18 Pasadena City, outscoring its opponents 14-4 in the process. As a reward, the Warriors received eight of the nine first-place votes in the poll. The Warriors face another ranked team Tuesday afternoon, as they host No. 8 Cerritos. They close with East Los Angeles and Rio Hondo before playing in the South Coast Conference Tournament.

Sitting at No. 2 – and receiving the other first-place vote – is Evergreen Valley, which trailed El Camino by 16 polling points. The state’s last team without a loss – Oxnard – remained in the No. 4 spot in the voting. Norco moved up two spots to the No. 5 spot.

The biggest mover in the poll was DeAnza, which moved up to No. 11 after finishing in the receiving votes list in the previous poll.

(Bill Norris, CCCSIA)