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In their final tune-up before
embarking on their South Coast Conference season, the
Cerritos College men's soccer team pulled out a
hard-fought 2-1 win at Southwestern College on Monday
afternoon. The win, which extended their unbeaten streak
to seven games (6-0-1) improved their record to 6-2-1 on
the season, while the Apaches fell to 3-2-1. The Falcons
open conference play next Tuesday at East Los Angeles
College in a rare 6:00 p.m. contest.
Trailing 1-0 after Southwestern
scored in the 20th minute, the Falcons had their work
cut out for them in the intense game played in
sweltering heat. The Apache goal snapped a five-game
shutout streak by Cerritos and it was the first
appearance of the season for sophomore goalkeeper
Miguel Lopez
(Vocational Tech,
NV HS), who was the team's starter last
season. But the tying goal came as a result of a
spectacular individual play, as freshman midfielder
Bryan Mejia
(Montebello HS)
broke loose down the sideline to start the offensive
rush. After brushing past two Apache defenders, Mejia
sent a perfect pass to an open
Jose Diaz
(Salesian HS),
who scored to tie the game.
The game-winning goal would not come
without its drawbacks, as Cerritos played the majority
of the second half shorthanded. In attempt to send a
crossing pass to
Eusabio
Alvarez (Western
HS), freshman midfielder
Juan Davila's
(Birmingham HS)
pass was intercepted by an Apache player, who took off
on a breakaway. Trying to avoid the one-on-one situation
with Lopez in goal, Alvarez clipped the player from
behind and was ejected from the game.
Although it left the Falcons
short-handed, they seemed to be inspired by the
situation and turned up the heat by putting additional
pressure on the Apache back line. However, Southwestern
was able to respond and tested Lopez several times, who
was up to the challenge. With the game coming down to
the final few minutes, sophomore scoring sensation
Joshua Meyer
(Cerritos HS)
decided to put his mark on the game. After a long
clearing pass was sent his way, Meyer pushed the ball
downfield and sent a great ball into open space for
sophomore
Jessi Lopez
(South Gate HS)
to run all the way to the box before a pass was sent to
sophomore
Marcos Pulido
(South Gate HS),
who scored an easy goal in the 89th minute. But it was
the hustle by Pulido that put the Falcons in position to
score, as he ran 50 yards down the field to be in
position to score the game-winning goal. |
