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Photo by
Juan Velez.
Back-to-Back Champions! |
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Last year, the Cerritos College women's soccer team
was forced to play without sophomore All-American
Rebecca Juarez, who was injured in
the playoffs. Despite the loss of their best player,
the Falcons went on to win their first state
championship in school history. On Sunday in the
CCCAA State Championship game at College of the
Canyons against Santa Rosa College, Cerritos had to
play without all-time leading goal scorer
Monique
Cisneros (Mayfair HS) and her
36 goals on the year. In 2007, Cisneros went on to
score the eventual game-winning goal in the team's
2-1 win over Santiago Canyon College, while
Corina
Villegas (Perris HS), who
scored the game-winner in the semi-final, was named
the tournament's Most Valuable Player. On Sunday,
Villegas scored three goals, including two in
overtime, to lead the Falcons (22-0-4) to
back-to-back championships in a 4-2 overtime win.
Once again, Villegas, who scored in all five of the
team's playoff games and had seven post-season
goals earned the MVP award. The win also extended
the Falcons unbeaten streak to 39 games (34-0-5) and
it marked the first time the school even finished
the year unbeaten.
Earlier in the
day, the Cerritos men's team won the state
championship. It marked just the third time that the
state championship for both men and women was won by
the same school. Back in 1989 Orange Coast College
won both titles, while De Anza College captured both
titles in 1994. The Falcons are the third team to
match the accomplishment. It also marks the sixth
state championship for Cerritos in the last 12
months. Winning state titles over that time period
were the women's soccer team (2007 & 2008), men's
soccer (2008), women's water polo (2008), women's
track and field (2008) and softball (2008).
"Knowing we
had to play without Mo, we made some adjustments
and Corina was the difference in the game," said
fourth-year head coach
Ruben Gonzalez. "We have a group of
young ladies that are resilient and they never
stopped playing, even when we fell behind 2-1
with 36 minutes left. This was a great team that
we beat and winning our second straight title is
a dream come true. It's the result of long hours
of training and a coaching staff that worked
tirelessly with this great team. I'm so happy
for the sophomores and the freshmen were awesome
all year."
Falling behind
2-1 on a goal by Lea Deluca from 40 yards out on
a hard shot that went over the outstretched arms
of freshman goalkeeper
Tiffany Hollis (Lakewood HS)
put the team behind for just the second time all
season. The Falcons did go up 1-0 in the ninth
minute on a goal by Villegas, but the Bear Cubs
scored twice and looked to pull the upset.
But after
making a few adjustments, such as moving up
sophomore defender
Desiree Cardenas (West Covina
HS), Gonzalez was confident that his team
would not give up. The first time they fell
behind was in a South Coast Conference game
against Mt. San Antonio, but scored in extra
time to pull out a 1-1 tie. It was more of the
same in the state championship game.
After Cardenas
controlled a throw-in, she controlled the ball
and fed a pass to sophomore
Elba
Menjivar (Monroe HS/Pasadena
City College), who dribbled into two Santa
Rosa players. She worked around both defenders
and scored on a low, hard shot that beat
goalkeeper Adrienne Goguen under her arm in the
68th minute.
Heading into
overtime, the Falcons were battling fatigue, as
well as a slew of injuries that left the team
hobbled and sore. But it didn't show on the
field, especially from Hollis, who turned a nice
save into an assist. Seeing that Villegas was
only being marked by one player, she sent a
clearing pass all the way downfield to Villegas,
who easily beat Santa Rosa defender Ali Ramos
and drilled a hard, high shot into the top of
the net in the 101st minute, which not only gave
Cerritos a lead, but it also resulted in the
loudest sigh of relief masqueraded as cheering
from the Falcon bench.
Given new
life, as well as being cheered on by the Falcon
men's team, who won their second state title in
three years earlier in the day, Cerritos once
again turned to Villegas and she did not
disappoint. Freshman defender
Marleen Alamilla (La Habra HS)
saw Villegas streaking toward the box and sent a
perfect pass that Villegas drilled into the net
and a 4-2 lead.
"Corina is
just an amazing player and she took it upon
herself to put the team on her back," added
Gonzalez. "Sure we made adjustments, and they
were necessary. But in the end, Corina showed
just how gifted she is and the team played with
all of their heart. We got great goalkeeping
from both
Chantal Cervero (Cerritos HS)
and Tiffany, who was great in overtime. She made
some great saves that kept up in the game and
then made that great pass to Corina for the
first goal in overtime."
"People were
depending on me to do well, so I had to do what
I could," said Villegas, who set the
single-season goal scoring record last year only
to see Cisneros eclipse it this season. "Winning
the championship is the best feeling you can
have playing soccer and it feels great. It was
awesome to have the guys cheering for us the way
we did for them when they played. Having us both
win is a great way to end the season."
The
championship also secured the school's first
national title, as the Falcons were ranked #1 by
the NSCAA heading into the state tournament.
Last year, the team finished the year ranked #2
in the country.
1st
2nd OT F
Santa
Rosa 1 1 0 2
Cerritos 1 1 2 4
Scoring:
Santa Rosa: Karly
Brown (19th minute; Lea Deluca assist); Lea
Deluca (54th minute; unassisted)
Cerritos: Corina
Villegas (9th minute; Mayra Garcia assist); Elba
Menjivar (68th minute; Desiree Cardenas assist);
Corina Villegas (101st minute; Tiffany Hollis
assist); Corina Villegas (104th minute; Marleen
Alamilla assist)
Shots on Goal:
Santa Rosa: 23
Cerritos: 15
Keeper Saves:
Santa Rosa:
Adrienne Goguen - 9 saves
Cerritos:
Chantal Cervero (45 minutes) - 5 saves; Tiffany
Hollis (75 minutes) - 12 saves
Records:
Santa Rosa:
22-3-1 (Seeded #1 North)
Cerritos: 22-0-4
(Seeded #1 South)
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