The Long Beach City College men's soccer team picked up its third straight win, a 3-2 victory at rival Cerritos College on Friday in a key South Coast Conference game. With the conference win, Long Beach remains two points back of leader Mt. San Antonio College in the SCC standings.
On Friday, Cerritos got on the board in the third minute of the game off a set piece. Mark Cruz sent his corner kick into a crowd of players in front of the net. Michael Licon got off a soft shot that was deflected away by LBCC goalie Connor Fatone (Los Alamitos HS). The ball hit the foot of Ulysses Rosales, who didn't have to do much other than watch the ball go into the net.
The Vikings worked their way into a tie game in the 12th minute when freshman Andrew Hernandez (Paramount HS) scored on a low line drive off a clean look against Cerritos goalie Jaime Sanchez. Cerritos regained the lead five minutes later when Fatone was unable to handle the laser shot by Ivan Vasquez from about 40 yards out on a direct kick. The shot hit the hands of Fatone and went through and into the net.
For the second time, the lead didn't last long, as freshman Bryan Majano (Downey HS) scored on a spectacular header off a corner kick in the 25th minute. The kick from sophomore Manuel Larios (Millikan HS) bent perfectly for Majano, who scored as he dove for the ball and into the right side of the net.
It was a very fast-paced tempo from start to finish with both teams looking to strike quickly. LBCC was able to accomplish that in the 60th minute when freshman Israel Gonzalez (Paramount HS) struck the ball just over the leaping hands of Sanchez and into the upper corner of the net for the eventual game-winning goal.
The Falcons continued to look for the equalizer, but where thwarted by the collapsing Viking defense and cleared the ball out of danger every time Cerritos (4-8-3, 4-3-1 SCC) got close.
Long Beach improved to 9-5-1 overall and 5-3-0 in the SCC for 15 points. The Vikings look to add to their winning streak on Tuesday (Oct. 27) when they host El Camino College Compton Center in a 4 p.m. conference game. Compton enters play on Tuesday in a tie for second with the Vikings at 15 points.