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Photo by
Juan Velez.
Luis Gonzalez looks to score in playoff
action vs Riverside Tuesday afternoon.
Cerritos won 1-0. |
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Photo
Gallery |
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It had been 11
days since the Cerritos College men's soccer team
played their last game, and heading into their 2nd
Round Southern California Regional Playoff game at
home on Tuesday against Riverside College, the
concern was the players showing rust early on. The
Falcons, seeded #2 in the playoffs, showed the
ability to create offensive opportunities, but
missed out on numerous scoring chances in the game
against the Tigers. However, the defense was sharp
and the team registered a 1-0 win to advance to the
third round. Cerritos (19-4-1), seeded #2 in the
playoffs, will now host the winner of the Pasadena
City-Los Angeles Harbor game at 2:00 p.m. on
Saturday.
"We did what we
had to do in order to win the game, but we missed on
six breakaways," said head coach
Benny
Artiaga. "Usually when a team misses
that many chances, they are the ones who are going
home. Fortunately, with our defense-first mentality,
we were able to shut them down. We held (national
player) Dorian Farias without a shot the entire
game, which is a credit to our defense. It was an
ugly game, but we'll take it."
Over a four-minute
period, the Falcons had three clear shots at
Riverside goalkeeper Antione Williams, who came up
with saves on all three chances. In the 13th minute
freshman
Luis
Gonzalez (Long Beach Millikan HS)
went for the lower corner of the net, but Williams
was there to kick the ball away. Three minutes
later, Gonzalez was turned away again, while
sophomore
Michael Paz
(California HS) saw his hard shot punched
away, keeping the game scoreless.
However, in the
35th minute, Gonzalez broke free of Tiger defender
Jose Ruiz at midfield and raced downfield all alone
on a breakaway. About 10 yards away, Gonzalez sent a
hard shot, which went under the arm of Williams, who
was looking for a diving save, scoring his 21st goal
of the season.
The defense held
strong the entire game, as the contest shifted from
an offensive game to a tight defensive affair.
Sophomore defenders Jonathan
Rivas (Santa Fe HS) and
Norm Mariscal (Corona Centennial HS),
along with freshmen
Fabian
Perez (Bellflower HS),
Michael
Vargas (Artesia HS) and
Rene
Hernandez (Warren HS) helped hold off
the Tigers, while sophomore goalkeeper
Diego
Millan (Paramount HS) made six
saves to earn his eighth shutout of the season.
Millan's biggest save of the game came early when
Heriberto Negrete missed the corner of the net off a
corner kick, while Alberto Ramirez and Edson Codero
also put pressure on the Falcons.
"We are now going
to play a team from our conference that we've seen
twice," said Artiaga, whose team lost once to both
Pasadena City and LA Harbor. "We know what both
teams have to offer and we've very confident playing
on our own field. He haven't lost at home this
season (10-0) and it gives us a lot of confidence.
That's why getting home field advantage throughout
the playoffs was so important for us."
1st 2nd
F
Riverside 0 0 0
Cerritos 1 0 1
Scoring:
Riverside: None
Cerritos: Luis
Gonzalez (35th minute; unassisted)
Shots on Goal:
Riverside: 9
Cerritos: 16
Keeper Saves:
Riverside: Antione
Williams - 11
Cerritos: Diego
Millan - 6
Records:
Riverside: 14-8-0
(Seeded #7)
Cerritos: 19-4-1
(Seeded #2)
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