Photo by Juan Velez. Midfielder Juan Mejia scores a goal against Orange Coast College. More Photos

    As they prepare for the start of the South Coast Conference season and heated rival Mt. San Antonio College, the Cerritos College men's soccer team was as sharp as they have been so far in the abbreviated season. The Falcons, defending conference and state champions, posted a 9-0 win over Orange Coast College in a non-conference game on Tuesday at Cerritos. Ranked #2 in the nation heading into the game, Cerritos (6-0-1) has now scored 32 goals in their seven games and played as if they weren't coming off an 11-day layoff. Next Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. at Mt. SAC, the team will look to continue their success against the Mounties, who they defeated four times last year, which culminated in a 1-0 win in the state championship game.

 

    "You know, we really take a lot of pride in playing well on our field in front of our great fans," said head coach Benny Artiaga. "This field fits our team so well because it's a very large field and we have speed at every position. I've been telling everyone that we are faster than last year's team and we showed it today. We wanted to go right at Orange Coast, who has played well this year, and put the pressure on them from the start. I preach to the team every day at practice that our offense is predicated on the success of our defense. Again, that was something we showed today."

 

    It didn't take long for the Falcons to put their speed to the test, as they opened the scoring in the fifth minute of the game when sophomore Salvador Melendrez (Long Beach Millikan HS) scored off a nice feed from freshman Ruben Gonzalez (Artesia HS). Returning All-American Luis Gonzalez (Long Beach Millikan HS) scored the first of his two goals in the 11th minute when he hooked up with Melendrez.

 

    Freshman Cesar Castillo (Eagle Valley, CO HS), who also had a pair of goals, stole an attempted clearing pass from Orange Coast's Kevin Isaac at the top of the box and fed a pass to freshman Briant Reyes (Downey HS), who did the rest for a 3-0 lead in the 40th minute. Right before halftime, Castillo worked the ball around Sean Galloway along the left baseline and sent a shot at the goal where Andy Garcia appeared to make the save, but rolled his body (and the ball) into the net.

 

    It didn't stop in the second half, as the Falcons turned on the jets, with the substitutes making key contributions. After receiving a pass from Reyes, Castillo drew new goalkeeper Brian Rippeto out of the goal and scored past him as he came out to try and cut off the angle. The seventh goal came in the 67th minute when Gonzalez scored on a header after a nice pass into the box from freshman Gilbert Contreras (Downey HS). Sophomore Juan Mejia (Paramount HS) and freshman Edgar Melendrez (Long Beach Millikan HS) each scored before Luis Gonzalez closed out the scoring with a penalty kick in the 84th minute.

 

    Falcon goalkeeper Jhovany Hernandez (Huntington Beach HS), seeing his first action of the season, posted a shutout and was only required to make one save.