The Cerritos College men’s soccer team opened South Coast Conference action on Tuesday against their toughest rival, Mt. San Antonio College. Last season, the Mounties won the conference title, while the Falcons came in second place and went on to win the state championship. The two heavyweights went back and forth in a frantic game that could have gone either way in their first meeting of the season. The end result was a 1-1 draw, with the two teams slated to meet at Cerritos on October 19 in a rematch. The Falcons will now travel to Compton College for a 4:00 p.m. game on Friday.

    The Mounties came out in the first 15 minutes and attacked the Cerritos defense with their overall team speed and held possession of the ball until they struck in the 15^th minute of the game and took a 1-0 lead.

    "I think our team was stunned by the team speed that Mt SAC had”, said head coach Benny Artiaga. “We went over their speed and ability in our team meetings, but until they got out there and saw for themselves did they realize they were in for a battle. Once we adjusted then the game took a more even keel.”

    On the Mt. San Antonio goal, Julio Soria stole the ball from Falcon defender Luis Segovia (California HS) and made an excellent crossing pass to a sliding Karlos Gonzalez, who scored past sophomore goalkeeper Ivan Mercado (Paramount HS).

    “We have to find ways not to fall behind in our games,” added Artiaga. “In five of the last six games, we have fallen behind 1-0 early and it puts a great deal of pressure on our team and we expend a lot of energy just to get back in the game.”

    Before the end of the first half, the Falcons were able to get that tying goal, and showed their ability to cover a lot of field very quickly. Freshman Miguel Vargas (Artesia HS) stole the ball and started a fast break, as he quickly fed freshman Gerardo Torrez (Norte Vista HS) who made a great move past the Mountie defender. Torrez then made a precision pass to a streaking Alex Munoz (Corona Centennial HS), who found the back of the net past Mountie goalkeeper Luis Ocampo.

    Throughout the entire second half, the game resembled a basketball game, as both teams moved the ball up and down the field on two or three passes, while both squads knew that one letdown could mean defeat. One advantage Mt. SAC had was that Cerritos was without Mercado in the second half, as he went down with an injury. Stepping up to do a superb job was freshman Diego Millan (Paramount HS), who made three saves, while Mercado finished with four stops.

    “There were some outstanding individual efforts in the game,” said Artiaga. “Raymond Torres (South Gate HS), Hector Quezada (Gahr HS) and Leo Munoz (Downey HS) were just outstanding and Alex’s goal was also a great play. This was a game of two very good teams and it could have gone either way. I think Mt. SAC has the most team speed I have ever seen at the community college level and we were happy to earn a point against them.”