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09.14.07 - Gerardo Torres scored
Cerritos' only goal that resulted in a
1-1 tie against Orange Coast Friday
afternoon. |
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Photo Gallery |
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After a slow start to the non-conference game
against Orange Coast College on Friday
afternoon, the Cerritos College men’s soccer
team scored late in the first half and played to
a 1-1 tie. The draw puts the Falcons at 5-2-2 on
the year, while the Pirates are now 3-1-2.
Cerritos will now travel to Oxnard College for a
4:00 p.m. game on Tuesday.
Early in the contest, Orange
Coast was able to get a goal, as a cluster of
players in front of Falcon goalkeeper
Diego
Millan (Paramount HS) distracted
him enough to allow Curtis Taniguchi to score in
the fifth minute. The quick goal by the Pirates
seemed to shock Cerritos to the point where they
wanted to get that goal back as soon as
possible. They had a chance in the 15th
minutes when sophomore
Brian
Alvarez (Salesian HS) was pulled
down in the box, which set up a free kick.
Sophomore
Ivan
Perez’s (Chaparral (NV) HS) kick
was high and over the net.
In the 33rd
minute, the Falcons finally struck pay dirt on a
defensive miscommunication by Pirate goalkeeper
Joey Balbas and midfielder Matt Blank. The ball
was sent into Orange Coast territory with Balbas
looking to gain possession of the ball. But
Blank beat him to it and sent the ball toward
his own net, thinking he had a keeper waiting
for his pass. In on the play was freshman
Gerardo Torres (Norte Vista HS),
who got past both players and kicked the ball
into the vacated net.
The play in the second half
became more aggressive, with players getting
knocked down on just about every possession. The
Pirates were looking to get the ball to
Taniguchi, Jordan Joseph and Kyle Schneekluth,
but it was Jarred Balbas who almost gave the
Pirates the lead in the 77th minute.
On a corner kick by John Shinjo, Balbas’s header
went off the crossbar in the 77th
minute. By contrast, freshman
Alex
Munoz (Corona Centennial HS) and
sophomores
Andy
Rico (Lynwood HS) and Alvarez
were the main targets for Cerritos.
Millan recorded eight saves
on the day while Joey Balbas had nine for Orange
Coast.
