Men's Soccer: Vikings snap three-game losing streak with 3-1 win over El Camino

Freshman Mario Ballesteros (Schurr HS) scored twice and freshman Ari Claro (Artesia HS) added a goal to help lead the Long Beach City College men's soccer team to a 3-1 South Coast Conference win over visiting El Camino College on Tuesday.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Vikings and improved their record to 5-4-1 overall and 1-2-0 in conference play.

El Camino (1-6-3, 0-3-0 SCC) struck first with an unassisted goal by Alejandro Lopez in the 15th minute. But the Vikings got the equalizer and took the lead for good with a pair of goals over a minute span. Claro sent a cross pass from the left side that deflected off an El Camino defender and in the net for a Viking goal in the 32nd minute. And in the 33rd, Ballesteros took a pass from sophomore James Pacheco (Mayfair HS) and beat ECC goalkeeper Jake Grundman with his shot to give LBCC a 2-1 lead.

Ballesteros added an insurance goal off a nice header in the 58th minute to close out the scoring. Sophomore Joel Atilano (Artesia HS) set up the goal with his deep pass down the middle that was headed by freshman Andrew Hernandez (Paramount HS) to Ballesteros in front of the net.

 Freshman Connor Fatone (Los Alamitos HS) posted three saves over 75 minutes in goal for LBCC.

The Long Beach men return to action on Friday (Oct. 9) when the Vikings travel to LA Harbor College for a SCC game.