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Looking to hold on to their third
place position in the South Coast Conference standings,
the Cerritos College men's soccer team went to El Camino
College on Tuesday afternoon and handed them their first
home loss of the season with a 3-0 decision. With the
victory, the Falcons are now 10-3-3 on the year and
4-1-2 in the SCC for 14 points, while the Warriors
slipped to 12-4-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the SCC for 13
points. Additionally, El Camino came into the game
ranked #2 in Southern California. Next up for the
Falcons will be a home match against East Los Angeles
College at 4:00 p.m. on Friday.
"This was a very difficult game
because El Camino is a good team and even better at
home. I thought it was important for our guys to stay
patient in the early part of the game because that is
when El Camino attempts to impose themselves on teams,"
said Falcon head coach
Benny Artiaga. "Our
first goal really allowed us to relax and
begin distributing the ball effectively. Our guys played
great on the defensive side of the ball.
Edgar Saldana (California
HS)
played outstanding filling in at sweeper for
Eusebio
Alvarez
(Western
HS)."
The first goal for Cerritos came in
the 33rd minute after a brutal first 25 minutes in which
both teams went back and forth trying to gain any type
of advantage. However, the Falcons remained patient and
broke the seal of the game in the 33rd
minute. After freshman defender
Jesus Ochoa (Paramount
HS)
made a great read on a ball filtered to the center
midfield, he intercepted the ball and cleared it
to sophomore forward
Jessi Lopez
(South
Gate HS),
who one-touched the ball past the keeper. On the play,
both Ochoa and Lopez had defenders on their back but
both showed determination to win the ball. The goal
changed the tempo of the game and Cerritos took over
momentum after the lead.
In the 53rd minute freshman
midfielder
Ivan Perez (Chaparral,
NV HS)
played a perfect 40-yard pass to sophomore midfielder
Jose Diaz
(Salesian
HS),
who headed the ball to sophomore forward
Joshua Meyer
(Cerritos
HS).
After receiving the pass, Meyer struck the ball with his
left foot past Warrior goalkeeper Byron Espana. Then, in
the 75th minute, El Camino had a man red-carded and the
Falcons continued their onslaught of shots before
finally putting the game away in the 80th minute. Lopez
played a one-time pass down the end line to Diaz, who
played the ball to himself past the defender and into a
breakaway situation for the third and final goal.
Throughout the game, sophomore
goalkeeper
Miguel Lopez
(Vocational
Tech, NV HS)
was the recipient of one of the best defenses in the
state and turned away all three shots he faced through
the 80 minutes he played. Freshman
Ivan Mercado
(Paramount
HS)
played the final 10 minutes and recorded one save. |
