Herm Scores but Late Surge Falls Short in Conference Opener

Herm Scores but Late Surge Falls Short in Conference Opener

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Taylor Herm notched her second goal of the season but it was not enough as El Camino College dropped its South Coast Conference opener at Long Beach, 2-1, on Tuesday afternoon at the LBCC Soccer Field.

The Warriors (2-5-1, 0-1-0) dropped the contest despite a late surge to try and overcome a first-half deficit. Isabel Rojas and Kelly Gallagher split time in net with each goalkeeper making two saves for the Warriors.

The Vikings (4-3-2, 1-0-0) got goals from Madison Slade and Jennifer Delgadillo while goalkeeper Briana Alarcon made four saves, three of them in the second half.

The Warriors fell behind by two in the first half after the Vikings cashed in a penalty kick in the 16th minute and then Delgadillo beat Rojas on a breakaway in the 35th minute to put the hosts up 2-0 before the break.

In the opening period, the Warriors mustered just three shots and only one on target while the Vikings fired eight shots, three of them on net.

The second half was a different story for the Warriors as they applied pressure late and played much of the latter half of the second in Vikings territory. They outshot the Vikings 6-2 in the second and had five of their seven corner kicks in the final period. In the 77th minute, the Warriors finally broke through as Kathryn Wilson fired a cross into the box. Maddy Simones got a piece of it and then the ball came to Herm, who lifted a shot over the outstretched arms of Alarcon and into the far side of the net to cut the deficit in half.

Unfortunately for ECC, the Warriors ran out of time as they managed just one more shot on target in the last 13 minutes and they dropped the SCC opener on the road.

The Warriors will return to action on Friday afternoon as they host Cerritos at Murdock Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.