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The
Cerritos College men’s soccer team improved to 2-0-1 in
South Coast Conference play on Tuesday when they handed
host Los Angeles Harbor College a 2-1 setback. The win
by the Falcons, who are ranked #4 in the country by the
latest NCSAA/adidas poll, are now 8-2-3 overall and are
unbeaten in their last six games (4-0-2). The team will
now return home after four road games in a row and host
Pasadena City at 2:00 p.m. on Friday.
Unlike their
last game, when they started slowly against Compton
College, the Falcons jumped on the Seahawks early and
set a tone for the game by attacking their defense.
After four solid scoring changes and nothing to show for
it, LA Harbor finally got the ball in Cerritos territory
and scored on their first shot of the game off a corner
kick. Undaunted by the goal, the Falcons continued to
push the ball deep into Seahawk territory and it finally
paid off when a foul was called just outside the 18-yard
box. Sophomore
Ivan Perez
(Chaparral (NV) HS), who has a gift for shooting
around walls, displayed his skill, as he sent a shot
over the wall and past LA Harbor goalkeeper Logan Adams
to tie the game.
Taking a page
from the Falcon playbook, the Seahawks started putting
pressure on the Cerritos defense and freshman goalkeeper
Diego
Millan (Paramount HS) came up with a
spectacular save minutes before the end of the first
half to keep the scored deadlocked.
“Our boys played
great in the first half, but we did not put away our
opportunities and Harbor capitalized on their first
one,” said head coach
Benny Artiaga.
“But we did a great job of staying focused and did not
let their goal deteriorate our play.”
A lucky break in
the second half resulted in the eventual game-winning
goal, as freshman
Alex Munoz
(Corona Centennial HS) saw his shot from 30 yards
out take a bad hop and skip past Adams for a goal. Just
as it did when the Falcons scored their first goal, the
Seahawks appeared to get an extra jump offensively,
which required Millan to make another game-saving stop
to secure the win. Cerritos appeared to have scored an
insurance goal in the 85th minute after a set
piece hit off the side of sophomore
Billy
Gutierrez (Huntington Park HS), where he
quickly played the ball to sophomore
Luis Segovia
(California HS), who scored. At first, the
referee allowed the goal, but rescinded his decision
after talking it over with the lineman.
“We played an
overall good game and our outside midfielders and back
line were simply outstanding,” added Artiaga. “This game
could have been put away in the first half, but we
couldn’t finish our chances. However, we did a marvelous
job moving the ball around and putting their defense on
edge.” |
