Report by LBCC’s Chris Ruiz
The 2009 Long Beach City College women’s soccer season got off to a good start as the Vikings cruised to a 3-0 non-conference win over visiting Saddleback College on a hot and windy day at LBCC on Thursday.
Relying on a roster with just five returning sophomores, it was LBCC’s freshmen that carried the offense to the win.
Freshman midfielder Lauren Ingram’s pinpoint passes on through-balls earned her credit for all three assists in the contest.
Long Beach jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute when Ingram fed freshman forward Ashlynn Bolt with a long pass to the right side. Bolt quickly placed her shot past Saddleback goalie Rachel Miles to put the Vikings on the board.
In the 19th minute, freshman forward Michelle Mellinger came off the bench to post the Vikings’ second goal. Mellinger took another great pass from Ingram and finished with a shot to the left of Miles to give LBCC the 2-0 lead.
And in the 51st minute, freshman forward Claudia Toledo took a breakaway pass from Ingram and easily scored after beating backup Saddleback goalkeeper Kim Goupille on a one-on-one to close out the scoring.
LBCC freshman goalie Sara Thatcher posted five saves in earning the shutout.
For Saddleback (0-1), Miles posted one first-half save and Goupille had a pair of saves in the second.
Long Beach (1-0) returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Moorpark College for a 3pm non-conference game.