The Long Beach City College men's soccer team opened up South Coast Conference play with a 1-1 draw against visiting East Los Angeles College on Tuesday.
The win moved Long Beach to 3-1-3 overall and 0-0-1 in the SCC.
Long Beach took a 1-0 lead midway in the first half thanks to an East Los Angeles foul just outside the penalty box. LBCC freshman midfielder Andres Montes nailed his free kick shot past East Los Angeles goalie Juan Escobar to put the Vikings up in the 24th minute.
Long Beach held that one-goal lead until halftime, but had to play the entire second half one man down after freshman midfielder Yohell DeJesus picked up a red card in the 45th minute.
The Vikings were on the defensive and were outshot 11-4 in the second half. East Los Angeles finally scored the equalizer in the 71st minute. Kevin Gomez' shot was deflected by LBCC goalkeeper Jesus Gutierrez, but the shot found its way back to Danny Suarez in front of the net. He was able to slip it in and even the score at one each.
Long Beach survived numerous threats in the second as a pair of ELAC shots hit the goal post while two more shots destined for the back of the net were stopped by LBCC defenders.
Gutierrez posted five saves in goal for Long Beach while Escobar was credited with two saves for East Los Angeles (5-2-1, 0-0-1 SCC).
Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Sep 30) when it hosts Mt. San Antonio College in a 2 pm conference game.
