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Joshua
Meyer |
Cerritos College
sophomore forward
Joshua Meyer
(Cerritos
HS)
scored on a rebound in the 67th minute to lead the
Falcons to a 1-0 victory over Fresno City College in the
semi-finals of the California Community Colleges
Commission on Athletics Soccer Championships Friday
morning at 10:00 a.m. at Fresno Pacific University. The
win sends the Falcons (19-3-5) to the championship game
for the second time in three years and they will play on
Sunday at 10:00 a.m. against Taft College, who defeated
Los Angeles Mission College, 4-3 in the other semi-final
game.
With the Falcons
putting constant pressure on Rams goalkeeper Scott
Grigsby, sophomore forward
Jessi Lopez
(South
Gate HS)
hit the goalpost on a close shot. As many as seven
players crashed the net looking to either clear the ball
or put it in the net. Meyer happened to be in the right
spot and chipped it into the net when it landed in front
of his foot.
"We knew going into the game that it was
going to be physical, so we practiced for that all week
long," said head coach
Benny Artiaga,
who was an assistant coach when Cerritos reached the
championship game back in 2004. "Fresno City is a very
physical team and we knew there wouldn't be many fouls
called, so when we practiced, we didn't blow our
whistles very much in anticipation for this type of
game."
Earlier in the year, Fresno City (17-2-7)
handed the Falcons a 2-0 loss in the Hartnell
Tournament, which dropped their record to 0-2 on the
year. Since then, Cerritos has posted a 19-1-5 record
and only allowed two goals in a game two other times all
season.
In the first half, Cerritos had several
good chances to score, but just missed out. Freshman
midfielder
Billy
Gutierrez
(Huntington
Park HS)
had his shot clear the top of the net in the 17th
minute, while freshman midfielder
Bryan Mejia
(Montebello
HS)
dribbled around Nick Casagrande and sent a low hard shot
that just missed the corner of the net two minutes
later. It was that type of aggressive offensive approach
that allowed the Falcons to relax and feel that it would
only take time before they finally got on the board.
Fresno City did have a couple of chances,
but were stoned by sophomore keeper
Miguel Lopez
(Vocational
Tech, NV HS),
who posted his eight shutout of the season, as he made
two saves. Late in the game, Lopez made his biggest save
of the game as he punched away a shot by Victor Regalado
off a corner kick. |
