Women’s Soccer: Late goal gives Long Beach 1-1 tie at home vs. Pasadena

The Long Beach City College women's soccer team scored a late 90th minute goal to escape with a 1-1 draw against Pasadena City College in a South Coast Conference game on Friday.

It was a quiet 85 minutes of soccer before both Long Beach and Pasadena finally posted goals over the final five minutes of the game.

The Vikings played well in earning the tie despite playing short a player after freshman Camila Veron was ejected from the game after receiving a red card in the 42nd minute.

Both teams had their chances to get on the board midway in the second half. But sophomore goalie Sara Thatcher came up with a pair of big saves for Long Beach to keep the Lancers momentarily off the scoreboard.

In the 79th minute, Thatcher stopped a one-on-one breakaway shot from PCC's Mallory Gutierrez. And just six minutes later, Thatcher once again came to the rescue, this time leaping high in the air to knock away another shot from Gutierrez in the 85th minute.

Long Beach had a big chance of its own as freshman Denise Martinez' shot in the 82nd minute deflected off the crossbar.

But Pasadena finally opened up the scoring with a goal from Lisa Kelly in the 88th minute.

The Lancers appeared to be on their way to the win, but the Vikings didn't quit. Just moments after the ensuing kickoff, Martinez' cross pass from the right side found freshman Dennis Chaidez in front of the net. She slipped her shot past goalie Sarah Wallick for the goal in the 90th minute to tie erase a potential win for Pasadena.

Thatcher totaled six saves for Long Beach (3-3-3 overall, 1-0-1 SCC) while Wallick posted two saves for the Lancers (5-1-2, 1-0-1).

The Long Beach women return to action on Tuesday (Oct. 5) when they travel to East Los Angeles College for a 2 p.m. SCC game.