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10.19.07 - Cerritos goalkeeper Ivan
Mercado makes a save against Mt. SAC; however,
the Mounties came away with the 2-1 victory
Friday afternoon. |
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Photo Gallery |
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In
a game featuring the top two men’s soccer programs in
Southern California, Mt. San Antonio College was able to
come away with a 2-1 South Coast Conference victory over
Cerritos College on Friday. The win by the Mounties, who
are ranked #2 in the country and the state, improves
their record to 14-0-2 overall and 6-0-2 in conference
play, while the nation’s fourth-ranked Falcons (who are
ranked #3 in Southern California) drop to 11-3-4 on the
year and 5-1-2 in the SCC. Cerritos will now host
Compton College at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday in another
conference game.
Mt. San Antonio
jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the fifth minute, as
Cerritos was still looking for their rhythm. On a corner
kick that sent the ball toward the Falcon goal, Scott
Moll sent a hard shot toward Cerritos goalkeeper
Ivan Mercado
(Paramount HS), who made a diving save. But the
rebound went right on the foot of Cameron Sims, who
scored into the open net. The intensity of the game
never let up, as both teams were waiting for either to
make a mistake, with hopes of capitalizing. After Mt.
SAC put the early pressure on the Falcons, the tables
were turned and Cerritos began to control the ball more
in Mountie territory. After outshooting the Falcons, 7-2
through the first 23 minutes, Mt. SAC was held without a
shot the rest of the half, while Cerritos got off six
attempts.
With momentum
swinging back and forth, MSAC was able to score in the
73rd minute to give them the breathing room
they had been working towards all afternoon. With
pressure deep in Cerritos territory, the Falcons were
unable to clear the ball, which allowed Cruz Hernandez
to get a pass to Karlos Gonzalez, who scored.
The Falcons
played a solid game from start to finish, despite being
without three crucial players. Missing due to injuries
were sophomore midfielder
Ivan Perez
(Chaparral (NV) HS) and freshman forward
Norm
Mariscal (Corona Centennial HS), who were
both injured in the win over Long Beach City, and
sophomore midfielder
Billy
Gutierrez (Huntington Park HS), who
missed his third game in a row. The three have combined
to score seven goals and assist on five others this
season.
Cerritos did get
a goal in the final seconds of the game, as a pileup in
front of Mountie goalkeeper Luis Ocampo resulted in a
goal for sophomore midfielder
Bryan Mejia
(Montebello HS). The Falcons had several
outstanding opportunities to score, but Ocampo came up
with magnificent saves. It appeared as though freshman
Alex Munoz
(Corona Centennial HS) was going to score, but
Ochoa blocked a point blank shot in the 56th
minute, while he also made saves on two other hard shots
sent his way. Mercado also turned away the Mounties on
several occasions, although it was a block by sophomore
defender
Hector Quezada (Gahr HS) that kept
Cerritos close. However, it was less than a minute later
when the Mounties took their 2-0 lead. |
