WHITTIER – A penalty kick shoot out decided who would advance from Wednesday's Southern California Regional Playoff opening-round game between No. 11 Rio Hondo College and No. 22 MiraCosta College.
The Roadrunners' Adan Villareal scored in the 12th minute to give Rio Hondo a lead it would hold all they way until extra time. In the 90th minute, MiraCosta was awarded and converted a penalty kick for the equalizing goal by Jose Aguirre just moments before the final whistle.
After a pair of scoreless overtime periods, the contest came to penalty kicks. Rio Hondo goalkeeper Arturo Bustamante Jr was up for the challenge as he helped lead the Roadrunners to a 4-2 win in PKs.
The game is officially recorded as a 1-1 draw.
Rio Hondo, now 11-9-4 overall, advances to a second-round SoCal Playoff game at No. 6 Long Beach City College on Saturday (Nov. 19) at 4:30 p.m.
The two South Coast Conference rivals have already faced each other twice this season, including last week in the third-place game of the SCC Tournament. LBCC won that match 3-1 at El Camino College. On Oct. 25, Rio Hondo edged the Vikings 2-1 at LBCC.
Long Beach had a bye in the first round and enters the playoffs with an 8-5-8 overall record. The Vikings finished third in the South Coast Conference South Division at 3-4-3.
Saturday's winner will face either No. 3 Fullerton College or No. 19 Cuyamaca College in a third-round game. Three more wins are needed by Rio Hondo to advance to the 2022 CCCAA State Championships on Dec. 2 & 4 at American River College in Sacramento.