Women's Soccer Rally For 2-2 Tie At Compton

Down 2-0 at halftime, the Pasadena City College women's soccer team responded with two goals in the opening six minutes of the second half to earn a 2-2, South Coast Conference tie at Compton College on Tuesday.

The Lancers are 1-1-1 in conference and 5-6-2 overall. 

Pasadena appeared stunned early in the contest when Compton's Alanis Rodriguez scored just 30 seconds into the game and later drove in her second goal in the 19th minute. Compton suprisingly carried the play for much of the first half as Rodriguez made frequent sprints toward PCC's goal.

PCC head coach Terryn Soelberg changed the team's strategy in the second half, pressing Compton's defenders and moving up her midfielders to create an offensive surge. The Lancers played inspired and were especially buoyed by the play of Mia Bedoyan. 

Two minutes into the second half, Gabby Morales hit Bedoyan for a breakaway as the sophomore was met by Compton goalie Sheila Sanchez. Bedoyan's momentum carried the ball into the net to cut it to 2-1.

Just four minutes later, PCC tied it when Bedoyan again broke through the Compton defense and delivered a point blank shot at Sanchez, who made the initial save. Megan Schmidt collected the ensuing rebound and fired in her team-leading 10th goal of the season. 

"Mia picked up our energy when we seemed to lack that in the first half," said PCC head coach Terryn Soelberg. "We put ourselves in a hole in the first half, but the entire second half we did a good job of pressing and creating offense. We were rewarded for going after it instead of letting a 2-0 deficit get the best of us."

Tiana Teets, Katy Cabral-Sinardi, and Marianna Hernandez played well in the middle of the field, neutralizing Compton's offensive attack in the final 45 minutes.

With 32 minutes left, a collision between PCC forward Isabela Guerrero and Sanchez resulted in an injury stoppage of play for about 10 minutes. Despite showing obvious pain in one of her legs, Sanchez decided to stay in the game. She then saved the Compton tie in the 75th minute when Olivia Aguilar received a pass in the center of the goalie box. Her drive was amazingly tipped away by a leaping Sanchez, who was limping noticeably for the rest of the game after her initial injury. 

Christina Echeverrie made six saves, including a big stop on a drive from eight yards out by Ana Marichon in the 69th minute.

PCC hosts Cerritos College on Friday, Oct. 13 in a 2 p.m. SCC game at Robinson Stadium.