The state #18 Pasadena City College men's soccer team have fought back in the South Coast Conference race with consecutive road victories this past week over Rio Hondo, 2-0, on Tuesday and Friday night's 2-1 trumph at East Los Angeles.
The Lancers improved to 10-4 overall and now are at .500 in the SCC at 2-2.
Against ELAC, Angel Ballesteros netted his 10th goal, second among all SCC players, in the 68th minute on an assist by Jose Perez for a 1-0 lead. With three minutes left, Ariel Hernandez fired in a blast from eight yards away, assisted by Angel Nolasco for the game-winner.
All four of Hernandez's goals this season have resulted in game-winners as he is turning into PCC's Mr. Clutch.
The Huskies made it close with a goal before the final whistle by Xavier Villa.
Rayshon Robert totaled four saves.
In the victory over Rio Hondo, Ballesteros scored in the 26th minute from six yards out off a cross by Diego Lazo. In yet another tightly-played conference game, the Lancers finally got breathing room when Jordy Aviles' 40-yard long ball was accepted by David Canales, who fired in a shot from 18 yards into the corner of the net.
Robert, who has a sparkling 0.89 goals against average this season in 10 games, collected five saves for his and the team's fourth shutout.
"We've bounced back from that 0-2 start to conference, playing hard in some tough road battles," said PCC head coach Francisco Cantero. "You can't look at the other teams' records when you are facing any South Coast Conference squad because the games are always tight. ELAC played state #13 LA City to a 0-0 draw, so we knew what to expect. I'm encouraged by how we've kept attacking late in games and that we are able to get leads and keep them."
The Lancers will be tested when they next face host and #6-rated El Camino, the defending 3C2A state champions, on Tuesday, Oct. 22 in a 4 p.m. match.
PCC is one of an impressive six SCC teams that are in the State Top 20 rankings this week.
Jorky Aguirre makes a play
Aviles with a header play
Note--the ELAC statistical box had a Presto issue indicating an overtime when the game was a regulation 90 minutes