State Scoring Leader Coats Nets 2 More In Women's Soccer Tie

Katy Coats drives a shot during PCC's tie v. East LA on Friday at Robinson Stadium, photo by Michael Watkins.
Katy Coats drives a shot during PCC's tie v. East LA on Friday at Robinson Stadium, photo by Michael Watkins.

Katy Coats twice rallied the Pasadena City College women's soccer team as her second goal in the 85th minute lifted the Lancers to a 2-2 tie v. East Los Angeles on Nov. 1 at Robinson Stadium. Coats continues to lead the state in scoring with 69 points, including 29 goals.

The sophomore reached the 40-goal plateau, only the third Lancer to ever accomplish that in a career. Her 93 career points is also third on PCC's all-time scoring list. Coats is in a foot-and-foot race for the state goals title with San Diego Mesa's Violet Renard, who has 28 goals as of today.

The Lancers are 7-6-5 overall and now 2-2-1 in South Coast Conference games, currently fourth place in the 8-team league. 

After ELAC took a 1-0 lead on Perla Navarro's goal in the 69th minute, PCC came back just two minutes later on a breakaway score by Coats, who received a lead pass by Montserrat Menendez. In the 81st minute, it was Navarro's turn to record a goal on a breakaway attempt to regain the Huskies lead at 2-1. But with a little less than six minutes left in regulation, Coats made a hard-nosed individual play for the game-tying goal. The sophomore took a feed from Amanda Howard, then powered past two ELAC defenders and the goalie to knock in the big goal.

Twice, PCC tried to take the lead in the final minutes. With three minutes left, Sophia Noriega had a golden opportunity but her shot from the 3-yard line was deflected by a ELAC defender. Then with two minutes to go, Jillian Demasi headed a corner kick that Huskies' netminder Anahi De Leon (10 saves) caught in the center of the goalie box. 

For PCC, goalie Alyssa Holt had seven saves. The game was evenly played although PCC had the shots advantage, 22-16. 

Defensively, PCC had some strong efforts by Erica Perez, Laura Casillas, and Jaqueline Gonzalez while Demasi, Howard, Menendez and Coats did the majority of the heavy lifting on offense and carrying the ball from middle of the field into Huskies territory. 

On Oct. 29 at LA Harbor, Coats drove in two goals, Kaily Echeverria had a goal and assist, and Noriega also reached the net in a 4-1 win over the Seahawks. Perez, Isabella Gonzalez-Mosqueda and Alyssa Mejia all had single assists. 

Coach Francisco Cantero's Lancers will host third-place Long Beach City College on Friday, Nov. 8 in a 3 p.m. SCC game.