|
When the Cerritos College women’s soccer team added
Richland (TX) College to their 2007 schedule, the
coaching staff knew that this might be the toughest test
the program had ever faced. Last year, the Thunderducks
won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)
championship, while the Falcons were ranked nationally
at the end of the season for the first time ever. The
NSCAA/adidas pre-season poll once again had Richland
ranked #1, while the Falcons opened the season ranked
#13. In their meeting on Saturday morning, Cerritos
showed just how strong their program was after
registering a dominating 5-1 decision. With the win, the
Falcons are now 5-0-1 on the year, while the
Thunderducks dropped to 1-2-1 after they opened their
California trip with a 4-0 loss to Yuba College on
Friday. Cerritos will now host Yuba College, the
#9-ranked team in the nation, at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday
after Richland plays Mt. San Antonio College at 11:00
a.m.
It was a fairly
tight first half, with the Falcons striking first in the
16th minute when freshman
Corina Villegas
(Perris HS) scored on a point bland shot after a
pass from freshman
Monique Cisneros (Mayfair
HS). The goal came right after freshman
Vanessa
Monreal (Lynwood HS) missed a great scoring
chance, but her shot was stopped by goalkeeper Kyndra
Grazetti. It only took Richland a little over a minute
to tie the game, as Julie Venable bounced a shot that
got past Falcon keeper
Chantal Cervero (Cerritos
HS).
The goal seemed
to revive Richland, who may have still been feeling the
effects of jet lag. They put a little more pressure on
the Cerritos defense, but the Falcons overall team speed
allowed them to get to every loose ball and clear them
from danger. It was a 2-1 Falcon lead in the 30th
minute after freshman
Alysse Orr (La Mirada HS)
scored from the middle of the box.
Cerritos may
have taken all of the air out of the Thunderducks
balloon in the final seconds of the first half when
freshman Georgina Garcia (Norwalk HS)
lobbed a shot that bounced over the head of Grazetti and
gave the team a 3-1 lead. Garcia received the ball from
freshman Desiree Cardenas (West Covina HS),
while the goal seemed to really anger Grazetti.
Richland
inserted Michelle McDonald in goal for the second half,
but the Falcons put pressure on her the entire 45
minutes, as they launched shots in her direction from
all angles. After several hard shots just missed the
net, Garcia gave Cerritos a 4-1 lead on a nice pass from
sophomore Rebecca Juarez (Jurupa Valley HS).
The scoring was closed out in the 55th minute
when Cisneros scored on a one-touch pass from Garcia.
On the day, the
Falcons recorded 28 shots on goal, while the
Thunderducks had just two. |
