September 21, 2008

Men’s Soccer:
Vikings win LBCC Classic, six named to all-tourney team

The Long Beach City College men's soccer team beat Cuyamaca College 4-1 on Sunday in the final game of the 2008 LBCC Men's Soccer Classic tournament. With the win, Long Beach won the tournament with a total of 18 out of a possible 20 points.

The victory also extended Long Beach's unbeaten streak to nine games as the Vikings are 7-0-2 overall this season.

Leading the way in today's action was freshman forward Manuel Batista, who scored in minute 10 off of a through ball from freshman midfielder Kevin Morgan.

Long Beach did not take long to score again when freshman midfielder Ritchie Ponce scored on a shot that beat the keeper to the near post one minute later.

Sophomore midfielder Warwick Newbold then added to the scoring by finishing a shot from 12 yards out in minute 62. Batista assisted on both of the goals.

Finishing the scoring for LBCC was freshman forward Ryuta Iihama. After receiving a pass from Newbold, Iihama dribbled by two defenders and slotted the ball into the far side netting.

Sophomore goalkeeper Chris DeWalt kept his net clean during his 78 minutes of action recording three saves duing his time in goal. Freshman Jose Gomez finished off the game in the net for the Vikings.

In other tournament action, San Diego City College defeated College of the Desert 2-1.

Following the close of the tourney, Long Beach had six members name to the all-tournament team. Leading the way was tournament MVP Warwick Newbold. Newbold, a freshman center midfielder, scored a goal in both games of the tournament and also had one assist.

Joining him on the all-tournament team from Long Beach were defenders Glen O'Gara, Juan Guzman, midfielder Kevin Morgan (two assists), forward Manuel Batista (one goal, three assists), and goalkeeper Chris DeWalt who gave up zero goals in 168 minutes.

Rounding out the all-tournament team were Jose Luis Meza and Esteban (PeeWee) Rubio from second-place College of the Desert, Jose Torres and Pier Sarabia from third-place San Diego City, and Evan Wharton of Cuyamaca College.

Long Beach has one more preseason game remaining, at Santiago Canyon College on Friday (Sept. 26) at 4 p.m.