Long Beach City College sophomore forward Brenda Reyes (Hawthorne HS) scorched East Los Angeles College for three goals to lead the Vikings to a 3-2 South Coast Conference win over the Huskies on Tuesday at LBCC.
Long Beach has won three of its last five games and with today's victory improved to 3-3-3 overall and 2-1-0 in conference play. The Vikings are unbeaten at home this season with a 3-0-1 record.
Reyes provided LBCC with all the offense it would need and got the Vikings on the board first with her goal in the ninth minute. Off a corner kick, freshman Julissa Gutierrez (St. Joseph HS) fed Reyes with a pass in front of the net. Reyes was able to beat East Los Angeles goalkeeper Arlene Sanchez with her low shot to give LBCC a 1-0 lead.
East Los Angeles came right back to tie up the game when Blakeley Ficenec nailed a deep shot from nearly 30 yards out past LBCC starting keeper Evelyn Fierros (Bishop Amat HS) for the equalizer in the 17th minute.
With the score tied 1-1 at halftime, Reyes and the Vikings wasted little time regaining the lead. In the 47th minute, Reyes was able to take a deflected shot off an ELAC defender and put in back with a one-time shot to give Long Beach the lead for good.
In the 76th minute, Reyes completed the hat trick after taking a pass off a free kick from sophomore Hayley Gonzales (Calvary Chapel HS) and putting it past Sanchez for a much-needed insurance goal.
That goal proved valuable after the Huskies' Carla Quijada dribbled through a pair of Viking defenders and around LBCC backup goalie Isabella Reynosa (Lakewood HS) in the 79th minute to cut Long Beach's lead to just one goal.
The Vikings nearly added a fourth goal late, but sophomore Randi Vlahakis' (Redondo Union HS) shot was cleared off the goal line by a Huskies defender with just six minutes left in the game.
The loss dropped East Los Angeles, who just last week upset No. 1 nationally-ranked Cerritos College, to 5-3-1 overall and 2-1-0 in the SCC. Sanchez totaled five saves in the losing effort.
For Long Beach, both Fierros and Reynosa were credited with two saves each.
The Vikings return to action on Friday (Oct. 10) when they travel to El Camino College for a 2 p.m. conference game.