Women’s Soccer: Long Beach edges East LA 2-1 to open conference play

The Long Beach City College women's soccer team extended its unbeaten streak to five games thanks to a 2-1 win over East Los Angeles College in its South Coast Conference opener on Tuesday at LBCC.

The Vikings came into the contest looking for some revenge as the last time the two squads faced off was in Round 1 of last year's Southern California Regional Playoffs at ELAC. East Los Angeles beat Long Beach 1-0 in overtime to end the Vikings' season.

But on Tuesday, the Vikings were able to score first to get momentum on their side. In the 25th minute, freshman Brenda Reyes (Hawthorne HS) was taken down inside the box by East Los Angeles' Lourdes Castro to earn a penalty kick. Sophomore Hanna Hermannson (Stockholm, Sweden) converted the PK on a low shot to the left corner past ELAC goalie Bobbie Perez to put the Vikings up 1-0.

The Huskies answered with a goal of their own just three minutes later. Gladis Reyes fed Vanessa Lizarraga with a breakaway pass and she slipped her shot by LBCC goalkeeper Karen Nuno (Bellflower HS) to even the score.

The score was tied all the way until the 60th minute. Sophomore Liliana Montano (Lakewood HS) beat her defender and sent a nice pass to Reyes (pictured) down the left sideline. Reyes dribbled to her right and beat Perez for the eventual game-winning goal.

Long Beach edged East Los Angeles (3-4-0, 0-1-0 SCC) 12-11 in the final shots total, but strong play by the Vikings' defensive back line was able to minimize the Huskies scoring opportunities. Nuno also played well in goal and posted three saves for LBCC.

Long Beach (5-1-1, 1-0-0 SCC) returns to action on Friday (Oct 4) at 4 p.m. when it travels to Los Angeles Harbor College for a SCC game.

Photo by Chris Ruiz