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Cerritos College freshman forward
Andy Rico
(Lynwood HS)
scored on a header in the 86th minute to give the
Falcons a 1-0 win at Santa Ana College on Tuesday in the
second round of the Southern California Regional
Playoffs. The win knocks off the two-time defending
state champions and moves the fifth-seeded Falcons
(17-3-5) to the next round, where they will face
#8-seeded El Camino College, who upset top-seeded Mt.
San Antonio, 2-1 on Tuesday. Cerritos will host the
Warriors (17-7-2) on Saturday, December 2 at 2:00 p.m.
with the winner advancing to the state championships the
following weekend at Fresno Pacific University. In their
two South Coast Conference games earlier in the year,
the Falcons defeated the Warriors, 3-0 and 1-0.
The goal by Rico was on a high header
that bounced over the outstretched hands of Dons
goalkeeper Julian Hernandez, much to the delight of the
Falcon players. It was only two years ago that Santa Ana
won their first of two straight state championships by
defeating Cerritos in the finals.
The game was a tightly contested game
against two of the top programs in Southern California,
with each team looking to take advantage of any mistake
by either team. Cerritos was as aggressive offensively
as they could, which resulted in nine corner kicks for
the team, compared to just three for the Dons. In the
19th minute, the Falcons almost took a 1-0 lead, when
freshman midfielder
Ivan Perez's
(Chaparral, NV HS)
kick hit the post and deflected out of danger.
Defensively, the Falcons used the big body of freshman
Eusebio
Alvarez (Western
HS), along with the quick and physical play
of sophomore
Marco Pulido
(South Gate HS)
and freshman
Luis Segovia
(California HS).
Possession of the field started to
shift more in favor of the Falcons, who finally found
pay dirt with Rico, who came into the game just nine
minutes before his game-winning goal. Sophomore
goalkeeper
Miguel Lopez
(Vocational Tech,
NV HS) earned his seventh shutout of the
season, turning away the three saves he faced, including
one in the final minute of the game off the foot of
Nixon Valle. The Dons did have a last-second corner
kick, but no shot was taken. |
