Penalty Kicks Work Again For Mt. SAC Women's Soccer's 2nd Consecutive SCC Tourney Championship
Anything can happen when a game goes to penalty kicks, and that's what makes Mt. San Antonio's second straight South Coast Conference Women's Soccer Tournament title more of a feat of chance as well as skill.
The SCC North Division champion Mounties and SCC South champ Long Beach City College played scoreless after 90 minutes. And while the game goes down as a 0-0 tie in the record books, Mt. SAC bested the Vikings in penalty kicks, 5-4, to claim another SCC tourney championship in the contest played at El Camino College on Friday.
Last year, Mt. SAC also played to a scoreless tie in the finals v. Rio Hondo, and beat the Roadrunners, 4-2, in the subsequent PK shootout.
Mt. SAC (18-1-1) earned the conference's #1 seed and was selected as the #4 seed in the upcoming Southern California Regional Playoffs. Long Beach (15-2-3) was seeded #5 and in a lean year for South Coast qualifiers only El Camino at #21 was seeded in an expanded 24-team field. The Warriors will play at #12 MiraCosta on Wednesday in the first round while Mt. SAC and LBCC earned byes into the second round v. opponents to be decided.
SOCAL REGIONAL PLAYOFF BRACKET
In the PKs, Mt. SAC goalie Leila Peregina stopped the opening attempt. Then it was LBCC goalie Vivian Toomey's turn to make a save that kept the score at that point at 2-2. The teams traded goals on the next four attempts, but Long Beach missed wide on the Vikings' sixth PK. That opened up the door for Mounties' Audrie Mahassel to be the hero as she netted the game-clinching PK goal.
Fatima Arnold, Kaylie Gutierrez, Karissa Vela and Kayla Allen each scored in the shootout. For Long Beach, Paige Rodriguez, Kendall Bettis, Adelia Villasenor, and Diana Leon scored on their PKs.
Since the game ended as a tie in regulation, Long Beach stopped Mt. San Antonio's 16-game winning streak. LBCC had a 6-game win streak broken, but recorded its seventh straight shutout.
THIRD PLACE FINAL, at El Camino 4, Rio Hondo 2: After Alexis Macias gave the Roadrunners a 2-1 lead with a goal in the 58th minute, the host Warriors roared back with three straight goals in a 13-minute span to place third in the tourney. Both Angelica Taylor and Natalie Vargas scored a goal and two assists to lead ECC as Taylor netted the game-winning goal in the 77th minute.
FIFTH PLACE FINAL: T-Pasadena City 2, at LA Harbor 2 (PCC places 5th on penalty kicks, 4-3): The Seahawks' Nylah Tardy scored in the 69th minute to earn Harbor the tie and send the game to a shootout. Mia Bedoyan, who scored PCC's second goal off a corner kick play by Gabby Morales, nailed the winner in the PK to give the Lancers fifth place.
SEVENTH PLACE FINAL, T-Los Angeles City 0, at Cerritos 0 (Cerritos places 7th on penalty kicks, 3-1): Playing during heavy rainfall, Cerritos goalie Victoria Ruiz made a pair of stops in the shootout to preserve a shutout and give the Falcons seventh in the tourney. Ruiz's heroics were capped when Brianna Montano scored the clinching PK goal. The Cubs nearly tied it at 2-2 in the shootout but Andrea Martin's bid just cleared the crossbar.a
NINTH PLACE FINAL, at Compton 2, East Los Angeles 0: Alanis Rodriguez scored goals twice in a span of five minutes during the first half as the Tartars grabbed ninth in the tournament. Huskies' goalie Michelle Ortiz made five saves.
Other SCC Tournament Scores
ROUND 1
Friday, Nov. 4
Game 1--at #3 El Camino 3, #6 Pasadena 0
Game 2--#5 Rio Hondo 1, at #4 LA Harbor 0
Game 3--at #7 Cerritos 7, #10 East Los Angeles 0
Game 4--at #8 Los Angeles City 2, #9 Compton 1
ROUND 2
Tuesday, Nov. 8
Game 5--at #2 Long Beach City 3, El Camino 0, championship semifinals
Game 6--at #1 Mt. San Antonio 1, Rio Hondo 0, championship semifinals
SCC 2022 TOURNAMENT PLACES: 1. Mt. San Antonio, 2. Long Beach, 3. El Camino, 4. Rio Hondo, 5. Pasadena, 6. LA Harbor, 7. Cerritos, 8. Los Angeles City, 9. Compton, 10. East Los Angeles.