Both Long Beach City College men’s and women’s teams won their conference tournament openers last week, advancing to semifinals this evening.
On the men’s side, a goal by Diego Penaloza in the 15th minute of the first half with an assist from Ulises Grado put the Vikings up 1-0. Goalie Abraham Ramirez saved multiple shots to keep the lead, and David Huerta put another goal up in the 35th minute assisted by Marcos Zambrano and Luke Garza, giving the Vikings a 2-0 lead over Pasadena.
After two missed shots by Pasadena and a block by Ramirez, the Vikings closed the show with a goal by Asael Sales which gave them a 3-0 win.
The men’s team for Long Beach City College(15-3-2, 5-2-2) advance to the SCC Tournament Semifinals playing on the road at Cerritos Tuesday at 3pm. If they win they’ll move on to the tournament finals on November 14th.
As for the women’s team, they too found triumph in their conference tourney opener against Rio Hondo, winning 2-0. The Vikings came out strong with their first goal in the 11th minute by Lorena Moreno with an assist by Maya Padilla. It took only nine more minutes for the Vikings to add to their early lead with another goal by Lorena Moreno and an assist from Laila Alfadhiel.
In the second half, a drought in goals forced the two teams to trade in shots on the net which were blocked by Rio Hondo’s Isabel Maldonado. With a strong performance on the defensive side led by Jackie Garibay as goalie, Long Beach was able to maintain their lead across the second half to secure a victory with a final score of 2-0.
The women’s team for the Vikings (11-3-4, 6-2-1) will move on to the SCC Tournament semifinals for an away game at Pasadena Tuesday in hopes of advancing to the conference tourney championship on Thursday.
