The Rio Hondo College men’s soccer team started off their week on the road with a comfortable interdivision win against Los Angeles Harbor College Oct. 25.

The Roadrunners are currently unbeaten in their last eight games as they improved their overall record to 8-2-6 after their 3-0 win against the Seahawks.

Freshman Andrew Gomez scored the opener in the 12th minute, giving the Roadrunners an early lead against the opposing LA Harbor College.

Rio Hondo was able to contain the Seahawks going into halftime with the score still at 1-0, as goalkeeper Jose Paredes held down his side’s end of the goal.

Nine minutes after the start of the second half, Sophomore Nicholas Knapp managed to create space to score Rio Hondo’s second goal of the game after an assist from Sergio Ramos in the 54th minute.

With the score now at 2-0, Rio picked up the momentum of the game and in the 60th minute Gomez setup Knapp for his second goal of the game giving the Roadrunners a comfortable 3-0 lead with 30 minutes left in the match.

The Roadrunners held their opponents out for the remainder of the game, as Paredes helped give Rio Hondo their second consecutive shutout and eighth overall this season after getting 4 saves against LA Harbor.

The 3-0 win against LA Harbor is exactly the reassurance Rio Hondo needed before they had to hit the road to face rivals Cerritos College Oct. 28.

Feeling confident after their previous win, Rio Hondo stepped onto the field driving straight towards the goal creating chances in the first couple of minutes.

After a few attempts at goal, Ricky Sotelo was able to pick up a rebound that the opposing Cerritos College goalkeeper spilled as he scored the opener for Rio Hondo in the 6:56 minute mark giving the Roadrunners an early lead in the game.

Goalkeeper Paredes picked up an injury in the 20th minute after taking a blow to his left shoulder after he saved a shot and crash landed on the goal post.

Rio Hondo then had to substitute their second goalkeeper in, Edwin Elizarraraz to take over for the remaining 70  minutes of the game.

Nonetheless, the Roadrunners held the lead going into halftime as Elizarraraz managed to make a couple of solid saves that could have easily been goals.

When asked how he felt to give Rio Hondo the lead against Cerritos, Sotelo said “I felt good to score the opener, it was my first goal of the season and against a team like Cerritos, it feels good to contribute for my team.”

Sotelo’s goal was the only thing separating Rio Hondo from their opponents who were not far away from scoring a goal themselves on several occasions.

As the second half commenced, the Roadrunners continued to dominate and do more offensively than the Falcons, who struggled to finish in front of the goal.

With the game evenly matched, Alejandro Luna broke the suspense and scored a low driven shot from a free kick in the 62nd minute to give Rio Hondo the breathing space they were looking for that evening.

With the score now at 2-0, the core of Cerritos College’s offense began to slowly fall apart as they struggled to connect their passes in Rio’s half of the field.

The Roadrunners coasted to a comfortable victory against the Falcons as they failed to get back into the game.

After two consecutive wins Rio Hondo improved their overall record to 9-2-6 as they next look to face East Los Angeles College Nov. 1 at 6 p.m.