A pair of second half goals by freshman Yasmyn Andrade (American Heritage, FL) and sophomore Cynthia Rico (Jordan HS, pictured) lifted the Long Beach City College women's soccer team to a 2-0 win over Santa Monica College in its home opener on Tuesday.

The win improved Long Beach to 2-1 overall while Santa Monica dropped to 1-2.

The first half was scoreless between the two squads despite the Vikings dominating possession. LBCC outshot Santa Monica 11-4 in the first half and had a pair of open-net shots cleared away by Santa Monica defenders from the goal line.

But the Vikings finally broke through in the 60th minute when freshman Brenda Reyes (Hawthorne HS) fed Andrade with a breakaway pass down the left side of the field. Andrade slipped her shot past SMC goalkeeper Monique Boe for the 1-0 lead.

Long Beach added an insurance goal in the 69th minute thanks to a penalty by Santa Monica just outside the box. Sophomore Liliana Montano (Lakewood HS) was taken down by a SMC defender near the penalty area which resulted in a LBCC free kick. Rico placed her shot on the free kick to the upper left corner for the goal.

LBCC had numerous other scoring chances in the second. Sophomore Rocio Hernandez' (Warren HS) shot hit the right post in the 65th minute and sophomore Hannah Hermannson's (Sweden) one-on-one breakaway shot sailed just above the crossbar in the 75th minute.

Freshman goalkeeper Karen Nuno had to make just one save to preserve the shutout. Santa Monica was held to just one shot in the second half while the Vikings outshot the Corsairs by a 21-5 margin for the game.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Sep 13) when it travels to College of the Sequoias in Visalia for a 4 p.m. non-conference game.

Photo By Chris Ruiz