Megan Schmidt recorded her second hat trick of the season and Christina Echeverrie made a season-high 14 saves as the Pasadena City College women's soccer team opened South Coast Conference play with a 4-1 victory over host Los Angeles City on Friday.
Less than a minute into the game, Schmidt managed to use her size and strength to go around LACC goalie Anhey Mora and roll in her first goal for a 1-0 Lancers lead.
LA City tied it in the 11th minute when Isabella Velazco's long driver from about 35 yards went over Echeverrie's head into the corner of the net. The teams remained knotted going at halftime.
PCC (5-5-2 overall) took the lead for good less than two minutes into the second half when Isabela Guerrero and Schmidt created a 2-on-1 breakaway with Guerrero's cross being easily tapped home by Schmidt. In the 51st minute, Gabby Morales got underneath the LA City defenders and gave a cross to Guerrero who fired in her fifth goal of the season. Schmidt finished off the hattie in accepting a lead pass by Olivia Aguilar and again powering her way past Mora to deposit her team-leading ninth goal in the 71st minute.
While Avery Romero was her usually stellar self at center-back defender (she broke up or blocked at least 3 LA City scoring chances), Echeverrie stood out as well with her solid netminding. The freshman made a diving stop on a corner shot attempt from 20 yards out by Anissa Mejia at the 29-minute mark. In the 55th minute, a foul in the box gave the Cubs a penalty kick, but Echeverrie made a sensational save to her right to stone Isabell Estrada. In the 81st minute, she stayed in position to make the save on a center blast by Velazco from just six yards away.
"I'm thrilled that we got a win in our first conference game," said PCC head coach Terryn Soelberg. "We are in one of the state's toughest conferences in the South Coast, so every point counts. Megan continues to be a go-to scorer for us, but I felt like Christina was our best player today. She made a number of big saves, especially on that PK. She kept us in the game and allowed us to maintain our lead."
This Friday, Oct. 7, the Lancers host LA Harbor College in a 2 p.m. SCC game. Harbor (3-6-2) tied Compton, 0-0, in its conference opener.
Megan Schmidt (10) battles for the ball
