Photo by Juan Velez. An early goal by Jessica Ortiz held up in a 1-0 victory over Long Beach City College. More Photos

    It only took a little over a minute for the Cerritos College women's soccer to score against Long Beach City College in their South Coast Conference game on Tuesday. But that would be the only offense of the game, as the Falcons recorded a 1-0 win over the Vikings. The defending national champions and two-time defending state champions improved to 17-1-0 overall and 10-1-0 in conference play, while LB City fell to 11-6 overall and 8-3 in conference play. Cerritos will now travel to Los Angeles Harbor College on Friday for a 4:00 p.m. game.

 

    On that goal, the Falcons took possession of the ball, where freshman Jessica Ortiz (Narbonne HS) took a pass from freshman Miranda Madrid (St. Joseph's HS) and scored her 11th goal of the season. Ortiz was right in front of Viking goalkeeper Sara Thatcher and chipped the ball into the lower corner of the net.

 

    After that goal, both teams played a physical game that displayed their solid defenses. Cerritos had two very good chances to score, but Ortiz hit the upper corner of the goal post in the first half, while freshman Morgan Thompson (Mayfair HS) drilled the crossbar in the 87th minute.

 

    The Vikings didn't put much pressure on Falcon goalkeeper Laura Ropp (Lakewood HS), who made four easy saves on four Long Beach shots. Cerritos was able to counter any attack, thanks to the defense of Thompson, freshman Justine Telles (St. Paul HS) and freshman Janeth Arroyo (Mayfair HS). The Falcons had 10 shots on the day, with Thatcher making five saves.

 

    The shutout was the 16th of the season and 10th in a row. On the year, the Falcons have allowed just four goals.