Jesus Moreno’s early goal for LBCC was not enough as Rio Hondo was able to win 2-1 after the Vikings scored a goal on themselves Tuesday in the conference season.
The Vikings gave a good account of themselves against a difficult opponent in Rio Hondo but after scoring early couldn’t break through their defense again.
“Performance was there just we didn’t finish the opportunities we had that could’ve ended up in goals and missed them. We gotta keep moving forward and the team played good today,” said forward Diego Albandez of the Vikings.
The loss to the Roadrunners means that the Vikings first game in the playoffs will not be at home.
Jesus Moreno was able to add to his goal tally again making it now three goals in six conference games this season.
Diego Albanez recorded his first conference assist this season to set up Moreno’s goal.
The game seemed to start off perfect for the Vikings as Moreno was able to shoot a first-time shot on the edge of the box after Albanez laid the ball off to him which was too quick for the Roadrunners goalkeeper, who moved the wrong direction allowing Moreno to score.
Suddenly, Rio Hondo answered right back after a foul on the edge of the box and the Roadrunners scored a free kick that went past Vikings’ goalkeeper Ryan Swan and into the side netting, setting the scoreline to 1-1.
The Vikings have been struggling to hold onto early leads in games this season as this issue is becoming a common problem.
“It’s a common thing. We go up and as soon as we score it’s like imminent. Not even five minutes that we don’t get scored on after we go up so it’s hard,” said Jorge Reyes, “I got into the captain’s heads and make sure that we’re nice and high and staying composed but the next ball we make a foul. We get too energetic or hyped and sometimes it can be too much energy or not enough energy.”
The remainder of the half left very few chances on offense as both sides could not find a way to break through the other’s defense.
The Vikings were very close to scoring a goal as midfielder Jesus Garcia intercepted a ball and ended up with forward Jose Ventura putting in a low cross with the Roadrunners defender blocking the ball in front of the goalline as Garcia barely missed getting a touch.
Minutes into the second half saw Rio Hondo able to take the lead after LBCC scored a goal on themselves during a corner kick from Jesus Garcia, putting the score at 2-1.
The roadrunners began to sit back and hold onto the lead for the rest of the half as the Vikings were looking to try and get a goal back but were not able to create chances for themselves.
Towards the end of the game, it got heated between both sets of players which resulted in Vikings’ defender Adam Quijano getting a yellow card.
In the end, Rio Hondo was able to hold on and win 2-1 against LBCC in the 7th conference game of the season.
The Vikings also played against Pasadena in an away game last Friday that resulted in a score of 2-2 bringing their conference record to 3-3-2.
This means there is one last game left in their conference season which will be an away game against Los Angeles City College on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.