Sophomore Emily Mena led No. 5-seed Rio Hondo College with three goals in a 10-5 loss to No. 4 Chaffey College in an opening-round game of the 2016 South Coast Conference Championship tournament at Pasadena City College on Friday.
The loss dropped Rio Hondo to 11-15 overall and 4-5 in conference play. The Roadrunners will next play Pasadena on Saturday (Nov. 5) at 10:15 a.m. in the SCC fifth-place game.
In Friday's contest, the Roadrunners built a narrow 3-2 advantage after the first quarter. Mena scored Rio Hondo's first two goals while Sabrina Miller made it a 3-1 Roadrunner with 56 seconds to play. But Chaffey went on to score five unanswered goals to jump ahead 6-3 in the third..
Mena logged her final goal of the contest, followed by a score by Quinn Reynoso to cut Chaffey's lead to 6-5 heading into the fourth quarter. With Chaffey holding a slim one-goal lead, the Panthers went on another run by scoring the final four goals of the contest to close out the victory.
Priscilla Escoto did her best in goal to keep the Roadrunners in the game as she totaled 11 saves. Sara Lotgering also had 11 saves for Chaffey (10-15, 6-3 SCC) while Kenya McClinton led all with five goals for the Panthers.
Looking ahead to Saturday's fifth-place contest, Rio Hondo has beaten Pasadena twice this season, getting a 13-10 non-conference win at the Battle at the Beach tournament and a 7-5 SCC victory at home.