LA City Grabs SCC Men's Soccer Tourney Title, Mt. SAC, Long Beach Are Division Champions

Los Angeles City College stole the thunder in capturing the South Coast Conference Men's Soccer Tournament title, defeating North Division champion Mt. San Antonio, 1-0, in the championship game on Nov. 13 at Rio Hondo College. Long Beach City was SCC South Division champions.

For Mt. SAC it was its ninth consecutive division title (19th in program history) while LBCC won for just the fifth time in its history and first since 2015.

LA City (12-4-6 overall) had a monster run to the tourney title, routing Pasadena City, 6-1, in the first round, then knocking off Long Beach in the semifinals, 2-0. In the championship game, Juan Munoz scored in the 77th minute and Carlos Rodriguez backstopped with five saves the shutout over Mt. SAC.

Including the two regular season matchups, the Cubs were a combined 3-0-1 v. the two division champions and go into the playoffs with a sizzling, 11-game undefeated streak (9-0-2). 

The Mounties (11-3-5), ranked #9 in the most recent State Top 20, went 7-0-2 to take the North title again, but were foiled again from a tourney crown. Since the creation of the SCC Tournament, Mt. SAC won the first one in 2019 and none since. Unranked LACC snapped an 11-game undefeated streak for Mt. SAC (9-0-2), which used two goals by Caleb Perez to beat #7-ranked El Camino, 4-1, in the tourney semifinals on Nov. 10.

Mt. SAC's Rafael Avalos in action 

Unranked Long Beach (9-6-5) was 7-1-1 on its way to the South title. 

THIRD PLACE FINAL: El Camino 2, Long Beach 2, ECC 3rd on penalty kicks, 3-2: The Warriors placed third thanks to the tie-breaking PKs after tying the game with two minutes left in regulation on a goal by Takumi Yasui. SCC leading goal/points scorer Jaden Hancock also tallied his 16th goal, tied for second in the state. LBCC got goals from Andrew Zavallos and Jiro Uchida.

FIFTH PLACE FINAL: Cerritos 3, Pasadena 1: Giancarlo Morales scored just before the first half whistle and Gustavo Arias added his team-leading 10th goal as the Falcons secured fifth place in the tourney. Israel Gonzalez scored PCC's lone goal. 

SEVENTH PLACE FINAL: LA Harbor 2, Rio Hondo 1: The Seahawks used goals by Luis Baltazar and Daniel Gonzalez to prevail over Rio Hondo for seventh place. Jose Luna scored the Roadrunners goal.

NINTH PLACE FINAL: East Los Angeles 5, Compton 0: Lucas Souza and Tony Alcaraz each scored a pair of goals as the Huskies blanked the Coyotes for ninth in the tourney.

ALL-SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE TEAMS, complete list click here

Mt. San Antonio swept the hardware for SCC North Division Offensive Player of the Year, Rafael Avalos, Defensive Player of the Year, Brody Quinzon, Goalie of the Year, Cody Lindeman, and Coach of the Year--Juan Sanchez. Long Beach had SCC South Division Co-Offensive Players of the Year in Cesar Garcia Solorzano, who shared the award with ECC's Hancock, Defensive Player of the Year in Diego Penaloza and Coach of the Year--Jorge Reyes. El Camino's Luis Avelar was SCC South Goalie of the Year

Long Beach in action

Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID