The Long Beach City College Vikings gained their first conference win of the season on Tuesday against the East Los Angeles College Huskies with Viking’s Midfielder Leo Sanchez coming off the bench and scoring two second-half goals to win the game 3-0.
The Vikings were able to control the ball in the early stages of the game but could not break through the Huskies defense. ELAC made sure their defensive presence was known in the first half of the game by withstanding the pressure of LBCC’s offense.
LBCC forward Jesus Moreno was able to break the deadlock in the 22nd minute after receiving a through ball from LBCC midfielder David Ortiz and finishing his shot into the bottom left corner of the goal.
The Vikings were in charge of the second half as they were able to control the ball, trying to slow down the game and defensively coping with most ELAC attacks.
The Huskies were able to create a few scares for the Vikings’ defense with their best chance inside the penalty box but the shot went wide of the side netting.
LBCC’s substitute midfielder Leo Sanchez was able to add to the scoreline in the 78th minute after responding quickly to Vikings’ captain Jonathan Grado’s missed free kick by redirecting the ball back into the net, raising the score to 2-0.
Late into the game Sanchez was able to score another goal, sealing the victory for the Vikings after getting on the end of Viking’s forward Carlos Alves’s cross and scoring a tap-in finalizing the score to 3-0.
The Vikings ended up finishing the game in a comfortable manner with a clean sheet as goalkeeper Ryan Swan made three saves during the game.
Sanchez was the standout player of the game after coming off the bench and scoring two goals in the second half against a very defensive ELAC.
“Coming into this game we knew they were going to sit off and many teams do when they play against us and it took a while to break them down but it finally happened and we got the result we wanted,” said Sanchez.
When asked about how important the attackers were in Tuesday’s game, LBCC men’s soccer coach Jorge Reyes said, “We finally had an end product and Leo was in the right place, right time. Sometimes we need a tap-in goal. We need to get players to go into the right space and wanting to go into that space and Leo got in behind a couple of times and scored.”
This season the Vikings have played teams with a similar playstyle and have struggled to get the victory when they score first. According to coach Jorge Reyes, the team puts their foot off of the gas and allows their opponents to get into the game.
“We got on them at halftime to make sure that whatever the score was it didn’t matter, we need to get more goals and more goals because there shouldn’t be any complacency. They stepped up in the second half. It was the same intensity that we started off with and matched it all the way through.” said Coach Reyes on his team’s intensity and performance.
The 3-0 victory against ELAC, puts the Vikings’ record at 1-0-0 in the conference season.
The Vikings play again in the conference season on Friday at Cerritos College at 4 p.m.