Men’s Soccer Fails to Advance in SCC Tournament, Drops Shootout to Long Beach

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College and Long Beach City played to a 0-0 draw Friday afternoon in the first round of the South Coast Conference Tournament at the ECC Soccer Field.

The Vikings (7-4-8) were able to grind out a draw through regulation and edged the Warriors (15-2-2) 4-3 in the shootout to advance to the semifinals. The Warriors will now host the fifth-place game on Tuesday against the winner of Rio Hondo and L.A. City.

The Warriors outshot the Vikings 13-7 in the match and 9-3 in the second half, but the Vikings defense planted themselves in the defensive zone and held ECC to just four shots on target in regulation.

In the shootout, the Vikings held a 1-0 edge after the first round after Jesus Moreno scored while Mario Carlos had his shot stuffed up the middle by LBCC keeper Ryan Swan.

Each team traded makes in the second and third rounds before Donovan Palomares stuffed Adrian Acevedo's attempt in the fourth round. Ty Kerns then smoked the ball to the upper part of the cage to tie things up.

In the fifth, Palomares came up huge again, making the stop reaching back with his right hand after diving to his left, giving ECC a chance to advance.

But Brandon Galindo was stopped by Swan to keep things knotted at 3-3.

In the sixth, Arnold Giron beat Palomares for the lead and then Jovanny Mejia was stopped by Swan to help the Vikings advance to the semifinals.