For the first time since October 6, 2006, the Cerritos College men’s soccer team felt the effects of a loss when they dropped a 2-1 South Coast Conference decision to Mt. San Antonio College. On Tuesday, the Falcons, the defending state champions, were left with the stinging sensation of a 4-2 non-conference loss to Rio Hondo College. The setback ended the team’s 21-game unbeaten streak and dropped their season record to 4-1-1. Cerritos will look to start a new streak on Saturday when they travel to Mission College for a 10:00 a.m. contest.

     “We flat out got beat by a better team today,” said Falcon head coach Benny Artiaga. “Those kids (Rio Hondo) wanted this game more than we did. I hope it serves as a wakeup call and we get our act together. In a game of this magnitude our talent did not prevail. I refuse to take anything from those kids at Rio Hondo, who played their hearts out.”

    An early sign that things may be going awry came in the eighth minute of the game when sophomore goalkeeper Ivan Mercado (Paramount HS) misplayed a ball 30 feet into the air that landed inside the Cerritos goal. The usually very reliable and steady Mercado was faced with another situation 10 minutes later when Roadrunner midfielder Carlos Gutierrez made a great play and scored to give Rio Hondo a 2-0 lead.

    The last time the Falcons had been down by two goals in a game came in the first two games of last season, as they dropped both of those decisions by a 2-0 score.

    Cerritos did cut their deficit in half when sophomore Brian Alvarez (Salesian HS) scored an amazing goal from the corner kick spot on a great individual effort. That good feeling didn’t last long, as the Roadrunners scored two more goals after the Falcons looked sloppy on defense. Freshman Jonathan Rivas (Santa Fe HS) tacked on the final goal of the game for Cerritos in the 75^th minute on a header off a corner kick by Alvarez.