It took another unbeaten team from the South Coast Conference in state #5-ranked Long Beach City College to end the Pasadena City College women's soccer team's record season-long, undefeated streak on Tuesday. The #11-rated visiting Lancers fell behind on an early goal and went on to lose for the first time in 2023, 4-0.
Including a *2-2 tie v. LA Harbor that ended last year's schedule, the official school-record streak ended at 14 consecutive games without a loss (9-0-5).
PCC, now 9-1-4 overall and 2-1 in SCC play, hoped to keep the streak going, but Hannah Marshall raced in to score just 66 seconds into the game for a 1-0 Vikings lead. In the 17th minute, a combination play resulted in a header goal by Kiana Moore.
The real game-changer occurred right after LBCC (8-0-3, 3-0 in SCC play ) received a red card in the 40th minute. Despite the 11-on-10 advantage for PCC, it was Long Beach's Paige Rodriguez rifling in a 20-yard shot into the right corner of the net just moments before the first-half whistle. The 3-0 lead was too big a hole for Pasadena as LBCC's defensive backfield concentrated the final 45 minutes in successfully keeping the Lancers forwards from getting free for scoring opportunities.
The closest PCC came to scoring was in the 71st minute when Angely Puga fired a shot from the top of the box just wide left. Alexa Espinoza-Gutierrez had a few plays rushing toward the Vikings' goal but had plays broken up before she could get off an attempt. Defensively, one player who stood out was defender Itzel Nunez, who made a number of breakups.
Goalie Natalia Portillo, who relieved starter Francesca Agliolo in the second half, made three saves.
PCC head coach Terryn Soelberg saw the significance of the school-record streak, which will insure the team's first better-than-.500 season since 2017.
"We have identified ourselves as a team to compete with this year," she said. "Going as long as we did without a loss was thrilling. The goal is to remain a strong program, not just for this season, but for the seasons that follow."
PCC last lost a game on Nov. 4, 2022 when El Camino blanked the Lancers, 3-0, in the first round of the SCC Tournament.
The Lancers remain undefeated at home this season at 6-0-1 and will try to keep that going on Friday, Oct. 13 in a 6:15 p.m. game v. Compton College at Robinson Stadium.
*--PCC outscored Harbor, 4-3, on penalty kicks in the second round of the SCC Tournament, but the PKs were done for placing purposes (fifth place). All California Community College playoff games that result in a tie after regulation play and overtime are decided on penalty kicks to decide on a team advancing over the other. These contests still remain as ties in official team records. There are no overtimes or PKs performed in regular season contests with the result decided by the score resulting from the regulation 90 minutes of play.