It won't officially count as a win in the standings, but the Long Beach City College women's soccer team earned a moral victory by playing No. 2 nationally-ranked Cerritos College to a scoreless draw on Friday at LBCC. With the tie, Long Beach's record moved to 6-4-4 overall and 3-2-3 in South Coast Conference play.
Despite being outshot 19-2 by the Falcons, the Vikings' defense played with composure while sophomore goalkeeper Evelyn Fierros (Bishop Amat HS) posted a season-high nine saves to keep Cerritos off the scoreboard.
But it was sophomore defender Sydney Castillo (Palos Verdes HS) that likely came up with the biggest save of the day. In the 77th minute Castillo, playing on the goal line near the left post, stopped a point-blank Cerritos shot from in front of the net. The Falcons' Adriana Velasquez got the rebound and ripped a shot that was stopped by Fierros to end another Cerritos scoring threat.
Freshman Savannah Christensen (Lakewood HS) had both LBCC shots and nearly buried both of them. Her shot in the 28th minute from near midfield caught Cerritos keeper Ruby Nichols by surprise and sailed just right. Christensen was able to race downfield on a breakaway in the 84th minute but again her shot sailed just wide right of the goal.
Cerritos (12-0-3, 7-0-1) was coming off a 19-1 win over El Camino College Compton Center on Tuesday but was shutout for the first time this season on Friday. Earlier this season, LBCC allowed just one goal in a 1-0 loss at Cerritos.
Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Oct. 27) when the Vikings travel to Compton for a 4 p.m. SCC game.
