The Long Beach City College men's soccer team bounced back from a narrow loss earlier in the week to defeat visiting Cuyamaca College 2-0 on Friday at LBCC. Freshman Hector Rojo (Paramount HS) and sophomore Evair Marin (Cabrillo HS) scored goals while freshman goalkeeper Arnulfo Vargas posted a shutout in his Viking debut to lead Long Beach to the win.
Cuyamaca actually outshot LBCC by a narrow 8-7 margin, but it was the Vikings that converted on their chances.
Rojo got the Vikings on the board with his goal in the 36th minute. After a Cuyamaca foul near the outside of the penalty box, Rojo was able to bend his free kick over the wall and past a diving Abner Aldtorre in goal for the Coyotes to give Long Beach a 1-0 lead.
After a close second half between the squads, Marin finally put the game out of reach with his goal in the 86th minute. He took a pass down the right sideline from freshman Mario Ballesteros (Schurr HS) and beat Aldtorre with his booming shot off the crossbar and in for the 2-0 LBCC advantage.
Vargas was impressive in his first action of the season as he posted three saves.
The win improved the Vikings to 2-1-1 overall this season while Cuyamaca dropped to 2-1-2. Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Sept. 15) when it travels to Orange Coast College for a 7 p.m. non-conference game.
