LBCC men’s soccer team came out victorious over Rio Hondo 2-1 on Friday, extending their season’s record to 10-1-1 overall.
The win came after a strong showing from freshman forward Asael Sales who scored both of the Vikings’ goals.
Sales had his first goal of the game for the Vikings at the 23-minute mark of the first half with an assist from Carlos Reyes and Edwin Rodriguez.
Rio Hondo attempted to respond many times but had a hard time getting around the Vikings’ quick defense and goalie Abraham Ramirez, who recorded 5 crucial saves in this game.
The rest of the first half remained scoreless as both teams struggled finding their footing and establishing a solid offensive push.
Assistant Head Coach Cameron Beaulac spoke about his frustrations with how the team was playing, noting that they need to bring more intensity to future games.
“We have to take each game as a big game. I think they came into the game with the thought that this team was not gonna be strong, they’ve only won one game this year, and they relaxed on the field too much. You can never take anybody for granted and no matter who your opponent is you always have to play at your highest level because that’s the only thing that’s gonna prepare us for a state title,” Beaulac said.
The second half of the game saw much tighter defense from both teams and a lot more communication on the field.
LBCC’s Asael Sales scored his second goal of the game at the 52-minute mark after a couple hard-fought assists from teammates Antony Martinez and Carlos Reyes.
Rio Hondo’s only point of the game came at the 81 minute mark when midfielder Diego Soto was granted a penalty kick and scored.
Despite the win, there was a feeling of discontentment while the team gathered with their coach for a post-game meeting on the field.
“I think we could’ve done much better and it should’ve been more than 2-0. To us it didn’t feel like a win honestly because we know we can do much better than this,” Martinez said. “We need to work on crashing the ball and working on ambition to want the ball and wanting to score.”
Sales had a similar sentiment and said there’s definitely stuff the team needs to work on during practice before their next game on Tuesday.
“Something we can work on is touching the ball more around, being more effective and not so much in a rush,” Sales said.
Overall, coach Beaulac’s goal is to ensure that he prepares his team to play at the next level.
“At the end of the day for us it’s getting these gentlemen to four year universities and we have to have them play mentally and physically and technically and tactically at their highest level for those opportunities to happen,” Beaulac said.
The Vikings won their next game 3-1 over East Los Angeles extending their record to 11-1-1.