Coming off of clinching the South Coast Conference South Division championship against L.A. Harbor, the LBCC women’s soccer team kept their foot on the gas with a 2-0 win over the Rio Hondo Roadrunners.
Acknowledging that it would be easy for the Vikings to stall out in these final games, Vikings head coach Eduardo Nunes said, “That’s the tricky part right, and now we’re having to deal with a lot of achy bodies and injuries,” which makes the performance from the Vikings even more impressive.
The Vikings came out aggressive with a multitude of opportunities to score a goal in the early minutes, but were not able to break through until a name that has been in the scoresheet all year long made her mark on the game in the tenth minute.
Freshman forward Evelyn Sandoval did it all herself as she made a thrashing run through the defense and slotted the ball in the right side of the net to give the Vikings an early 1-0 lead.
This however, would be the only goal for the Vikings until the closing minutes of the game and Rio Hondo would take over as the aggressors.
The Roadrunners had a string of opportunities in the first half, but nothing to show for them as the halftime score was 1-0 with the Vikings leading.
Rio Hondo was reading LBCC’s passes and predicting the lethal runs that the Vikings have had success with all season.
However, the Vikings played a staggering defense of their own, which forced the Roadrunners to settle for long-range shots. They came close on occasion but never found the back of the net as Vikings freshman keeper, Vivian Toomey, only had to make two saves to keep a clean sheet.
Another familiar face to the scoresheet is freshman forward Genesis Lopez, who delivered the dagger to the Roadrunners as she pounded home a ball that was bouncing around after a corner, giving the Vikings a 2-0 lead.
Reflecting on a game that was a little tougher for the Vikings than the past few have been, Lopez said, “During half time we had a talk and we knew we just had to stay in the game.”
Looking to keep up their good form after clinching the division championship, the Vikings took on Pasadena in Pasadena on October 28 and secured a 6-0 win.
The Vikings will face off against Los Angeles City at Los Angeles City on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.