Sophomore Janessa Martinez (Narbonne HS) and freshman Miranda Kaekul (John Burroughs HS) scored second-half goals to lead the Long Beach City College women's soccer team to a 2-1 win over visiting El Camino College on Tuesday.
With the victory, Long Beach improved to 5-3-1 overall and 2-1-0 in South Coast Conference play.
LBCC dominated possession in the first half and outshot the Warriors by an 8-4 margin. But the game remained scoreless until the 59th minute. Kaekul took a lead pass from freshman Savannah Christensen (Lakewood HS) and beat ECC goalkeeper Olivia Hover with her shot to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
Martinez added to the Long Beach lead with her electric goal in the 67th minute. She took a short pass from freshman Erica Rojas (Lakewood HS) and dribbled through a pair of ECC defenders before firing off her shot from 20 yards out for the score.
El Camino (3-5-2, 2-1-0 SCC) cut the Vikings' lead in half with a goal in the 81st minute by Kelsey Orseth, but the Warriors would get no closer. Sophomore Julissa Gutierrez (St. Joseph HS) nearly added to the Vikings' lead in the 84th minute, but her open-net shot was knocked away by an ECC defender at the goal line.
In goal, sophomores Evelyn Fierros (Bishop Amat HS) and Isabella Reynoso (Lakewood HS) both had two saves each. Fierros' biggest save of the game came in the 42nd minute when she stopped a point-blank shot by ECC's Kalyn Kaemerle to keep the game scoreless.
The LBCC women return to action on Friday (Oct. 9) when the Vikings host LA Harbor College in a SCC game at 4 p.m.
