Long Beach City College sophomore Paola Alonso (pictured) scored three second-half goals to lead the Vikings to a 5-0 South Coast Conference win over visiting El Camino College Compton Center on Friday at LBCC.
Long Beach won its second straight to improve to 6-3-3 overall and 2-1-3 in the SCC.
Compton was able to keep Long Beach off the board in the first half before the Vikings exploded in the second. The five goals matched a season-high for Long Beach and were more goals combined than its last five games.
Alonso scored the first of three goals in the 48th minute. Freshman Jennifer Abarca raced down the right sideline before sending a cross pass to Alonso streaking down the middle of the field. Alonso dribbled through two defenders and nailed her shot past Compton goalie Stephanie Pacheco to break the scoreless tie.
Freshman Hanna Hermansson added to the Vikings' lead in the 61st when her shot from 25 yards out was knocked down by Pacheco and was kicked in by a Compton defender attempting to clear the ball off the goal line.
Three minutes later, Abarca assisted on another goal when freshman Anna Gonzalez headed in a corner kick from the right side to put LBCC up 3-0.
Alonso closed out the scoring with breakaway goals in the 78th and 87th minutes to earn the hat trick. Gonzalez and freshman Cynthia Rico earned assists on the long scoring plays.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jeanette DeAnda posted three saves to pick up her sixth shutout of the season.
Pacheco totaled five saves over 65 minutes for Compton (3-8, 0-6 SCC) and Jillanita Orozco had one save over the final 25 minutes.
Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Oct. 16) when it hosts El Camino College in a 2 p.m. conference game.
Photo by Chris Ruiz