Women’s Soccer: Second-half goals leads Long Beach to 3-1 win over East LA

Sophomore forward Claudia Toledo scored a pair of goals and sophomore forward Denise Martinez added another to lead the Long Beach City College women's soccer team to a 3-1 win over visiting East Los Angeles College in both teams' South Coast Conference opener on Tuesday.

The win was the Vikings' fifth straight and improved their record to 5-2-1 overall and 1-0-0 in conference play.

Long Beach came out flat in the first half, likely due to not playing a game in nearly two weeks. East Los Angeles controlled the tempo in the first and outshot LBCC by a 6-2 margin.

The Huskies finally broke through just moments after the second-half whistle. Jessica Guzman stole bad bass from a LBCC defender and beat goalkeeper Ashley Buckner to put ELAC up 1-0 in the 46^th minute.

The goal seemed to awaken Long Beach as the Vikings played with a newfound intensity.

Long Beach tied up the game in the 53^rd minute after Martinez headed in a corner kick from freshman midfielder Michelle Cardenas.

LBCC continued the offensive pressure and it paid off when sophomore midfielder Cristina Landavazo was fouled in the East Los Angeles penalty box.

Toledo gave Long Beach the lead for good after she nailed in the penalty kick past goalie Jacqueline De La O in the 57^th minute.

It took three consecutive shots, bur Toledo added an insurance goal in the 65^th minute. On a breakaway, Toledo's first shot was stopped by De La O, she took the deflection and fired a shot that was deflected in front of the goal by ELAC defender Melissa Gonzalez. Toledo took the third bounce-back and placed in the back of the net to put Long Beach up 3-1.

Freshman Jeanette DeAnda posted four saves in a scoreless first half in goal for LBCC while Buckner earned four second-half saves.

For East Los Angeles (4-3-0, 0-1-0 SCC), De La O was credited with two saves.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Sep 30) when it hosts Mt. San Antonio College in a 4:15 pm conference game.