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Photo by
Juan Velez. Disappointed - Pasadena
City College goalie expresses frustration
after a 5-2 loss. Cerritos advances to the
state championship next week at College of
the Canyons. |
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Photos |
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In 2004, the
Cerritos College men's soccer team advanced to the
state championship game. In 2006, they won their
first state title in school history. Faced with a
chance to advance in 2008 with a win over Pasadena
City College on Saturday afternoon, the Falcons
turned in a tremendous offensive performance,
defeating the Lancers, 5-2 in the third round of the
Southern California Regional Playoffs, and will now
move on to the state tournament, which will be
played next Friday and Sunday at College of the
Canyons.
"This was a game
in which we wanted to show that our players can take
a personal challenge and execute it in order to show
that this college has a tremendous men's and women's
soccer program," said head coach
Benny
Artiaga, referring to the women's
program that won the title last year and also
advanced to the state tournament this year. "This
win was tremendous and is a credit to our team and
their willingness to come back and play better now
than they have all season. Sure we would have liked
to have finished with a shutout, but this really
adds validation to everything they have gone through
this season."
From the first
whistle of the game, the Falcons were attacking the
Lancer defense and held a 12-1 shot advantage 25
minutes into the game. Time after time, the team
used their team speed to rush the ball up the
outside and look to turn the play toward the middle,
where sophomores
Michael Paz
(California HS) and
Alex Munoz
(Corona Centennial HS), along with freshman
Luis Gonzalez (Long Beach Millikan
HS) were waiting for the ball.
They scored their
first goal in the 25th minute when Gonzalez rushed
the ball down the right side of the field and sent a
perfect centering pass to Paz, who drilled the ball
into the back of the net. The goal seemed to give
the Cerritos players more energy, as they were on
top of every loose ball and continued to barrage
Lancer goalkeeper Jorge Sainz, who helped the team
advance to the game against the Falcons with a stop
of a penalty kick in their second round game against
Los Angeles Harbor College, which sent the game into
overtime.
There was to be no
miraculous saves this time, with Cerritos bending
the Lancer defense to their limits until they broke.
Right before halftime, freshman
Stephan
Mangu (Hamilton HS) turned in
a gutsy performance, as he continued to work hard
along the end line despite three Lancer players
pressuring him. After escaping from the defenders,
Mangu was able to get a pass off to freshman
Timmy Seo
(Los Alamitos HS), who headed the ball in
between Sainz and the goalpost for a goal and a 2-0
Falcon lead.
The second half
was just like the first, as Munoz fed a pass to
sophomore
Ricky Reyes
(Hawthorne HS/Pasadena City College), who
was left alone in front of the net. The former
Lancer scored into the open net in the 49th minute.
Just 11 minutes later, freshman Paul
Montalvo (La Sierra HS) pushed the
ball up from his defender position and passed to
Munoz, who scored into the lower corner and the
Falcons led, 4-0.
Although the
Lancers were able to score twice, Cerritos
sandwiched in a goal when sophomore
Gerardo
Torres (Norte Vista HS) was
credited with an assist when his pass to freshman
Jhosimar Rivera (Gahr HS)
resulted in the team's fifth goal. The tally came on
a transition after the Lancers just missed out on
scoring, which Artiaga felt was one of the team's
strongest assets.
"We talk about
defense being a priority with this team and we try
to create our scoring chances off our defensive
effort," said Artiaga. "With our speed, we are able
to clear the ball and be in an offensive position
faster than teams can react. We ask all of our
players to play defense and they have seen how the
momentum of a game can change with defense and
speed. We love playing on our field because it
allows us to utilize our speed. We're 11-0 at home
this year and a lot of it has to do with our ability
to outrun teams on the outside. It's an exciting
time at Cerritos and we hope to keep it going next
weekend."
1st 2nd
F
Pasadena City 0 2 2
Cerritos 2 3
5
Scoring:
Pasadena City:
Gabriel Chavarria (75th minute; Ando Ghevandyan
assist); Jose Cortez (85th minute; Leonardo Vergara
assist).
Cerritos: Michael
Paz (25th minute; Luis Gonzalez assist); Timmy Seo
(44th minute; Stephan Mangu assist); Ricky Reyes
(49th minute; Alex Munoz assist); Alex Munoz (60th
minute; Paul Montalvo assist); Jhosimar Rivera (82nd
minute; Gerardo Torres assist).
Shots on Goal:
Pasadena City: 7
Cerritos: 20
Keeper Saves:
Pasadena City: Jorge
Sainz - 6 saves
Cerritos: Diego
Millan - 1 save
Records:
Pasadena City:
15-6-1 (3rd seed)
Cerritos: 20-4-1
(2nd seed)
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