Freshman forward
Gerardo Torres (Norte Vista HS)
scored all three goals for the Cerritos College
men’s soccer team, as they posted a 3-1
non-conference victory at Oxnard College on
Tuesday. With the win, the Falcons are now 6-2-2
overall and open South Coast Conference action
next Tuesday when they travel to face the
defending conference champion Mt. San Antonio at
5:00 p.m. Cerritos is the defending state
champion.
The team trailed the Condors
1-0 at intermission after allowing a goal in the
25th minute when a failed attempt at
a crossing pass turned into an Oxnard goal. Up
until that point, both teams had several changes
to score, but the miscue was what left the team
looking to rebound from their missed
opportunities.
“Halftime was very important
for us because it allowed us to gather our
thoughts and refocus on what we had to do,” said
head coach
Benny
Artiaga. “There was not much change in
our strategy because we knew this was a game in
which our guys were going to have to dig deep
down and find a way to win.”
Cerritos seemed to be able to
find that spot deep down inside, as they jumped
on Oxnard to start the second and half tied the
game three minutes into the second stanza. The
goal started with sophomore defender
Hector Quezada (Gahr HS), who
found a streaking Torres down the right sideline
and he made his move toward the goal. After
working his way around the defender, he scored
the first of his three goals and rejuvenated the
Falcons. Less than 10 minutes later, Torres
scored what turned out to be the winning goal
when freshman midfielder
Raul Dominguez (Animo HS) played
a long ball to the right side of the field for
Torres. Just as he did in his first goal, Torres
made a great move and filtered a shot to the far
post for a goal from an angle that looked to be
nearly impossible.
The game seemed to settle
down after that, with Oxnard looking to regroup,
while Cerritos looking to continue the pressure.
Torres completed the hat trick in the 75th
minute, as freshman forward
Norm
Mariscal (Corona Centennial HS)
intercepted a pass and wasted no time sending
the ball off to a streaking Torres, who scored
on a hard, low shot.
Oxnard made several late
attempts to get back in the game, but was turned
away on great saves by sophomore
Ivan
Mercado (Paramount HS), who came
on in the second half. Mercado made four saves
to earn the win, as he replaced freshman
Diego
Millan (Paramount HS), who
recorded one save and allowed the lone goal.
