Men’s Soccer: Three-goal first half leads LBCC to 4-1 win over Irvine Valley

The Long Beach City College men's soccer team snapped a four-game winless streak with a 4-1 non-conference victory over visiting Irvine Valley College on Tuesday.

After opening the season 2-0, LBCC had earned three ties and a loss in their last four. Tuesday's win improved the Vikings to 2-1-3 to close their non-conference schedule.

Long Beach set the tone for the game immediately after the opening whistle. It took just 10 seconds for freshman William Morse (Los Angeles, CA) to take the opening kick, dribble up field and nail his shot from 45 yards out past Irvine Valley goalkeeper Juan Zamora to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.

Long Beach added two more goals in the first half, as freshman Jose Garcia (Artesia HS) continued the long-range assault on IVC. Garcia took a pass from freshman Erik Carbajal (Lakewood HS) and smoked his shot from 35 yards deep in the 27th minute.

Morse and freshman AJ Rocha (Mater Dei HS) connected on another impressive LBCC goal moments later in the 30th minute. Morse sent a cross pass from the right sideline that found Rocha in front of the net. He one-timed the pass to the back of the goal and the Vikings took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Irvine Valley finally broke up the shutout when Juan Gutierrez scored off the assist from Joe Rousseau in the 66th minute.

But the Vikings got the goal right back when freshman Jose Torres (Millikan HS, pictured) converted on a penalty kick in the 70th minute to close out the scoring.

LBCC outshot Irvine Valley by a 13-8 margin. Freshman goalkeeper Kifi Cabrera (Poly HS) held the Lasers scoreless over the first half and posted three saves. Freshman Rogelio Zaragoza (Las Vegas, NV) closed out the win with a relatively easy time in goal over the second half.

Zamora picked up pair of first-half saves for Irvine Valley (0-1-5) and Bryce Williamson also had two saves in the second.

The Vikings return to action on October 1 at 4 p.m. when they travel to East Los Angeles College for their South Coast Conference opener.

Photo by Chris Ruiz