Freshman men’s soccer midfielder/forward Luis Garcia won the All-South Coast Conference South Division Offensive Player of the Year award.

The Cerritos College men’s soccer team won a conference title with a whopping 9-7-5 overall record. But in conference play, the team dominated with a 5-1-2 record.

For this first-year player out of La Habra High School, this individual accomplishment means the world to him.

“This award meant a lot to me, it made me realize that all of the effort that was put into the preseason and during training paid off,” he said.

Head coach Benny Artiaga had nothing but positive things to say about his star player. He even went as far as to say Garcia was awesome for him and his team.

Relied on may be an understatement as Garcia played in 21 of the team’s 22 games and he started in every one of them.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to rely on a freshman but Garcia played a huge part in our offense. He was the creative mind behind our team,” Artiaga said.

As for Garcia, he feels it is only the beginning of his growth as a player.

“My freshman season was a stepping stone for next year. I got a feel of the competition every school has to offer and it made me realize what I need to improve on,” he said.

As prestigious as the offensive player of the year is, Garcia was fourth on the team in goals with five.

He felt this only shows that the team had a good balance of healthy competition.

“Being fourth [on the team] in goals just shows that the opportunities on the field were created and the healthy competition on the team made us close out the games [better],” Garcia said.

Garcia also finished the season with nine assists contributing 19 points to the team.

However, Garcia is just one of nine athletes to win post-season awards, five of which were freshmen.

“It just goes to show that us, a young, talented team, we should only get better. With that being said the communication and the ability to play and vibe off of each other on the field.

“[It] should only improve our chances to winning it all next year,” Garcia said.

Freshmen Jose Ponce and Guy Julien were named to the All-SCC South Division first-team along with sophomores Edward Corona and Ivan Vazquez. Also, freshmen Hector Jimenez, Adrian Becerra and Oscar Canela made the second team with lone sophomore Ivan Martin Del Campo.

Furthermore, Ponce was a runner-up for defensive player of the year for the Falcons.

It looks like Artiaga will have some serious experience coming back next season.

“It’s exciting to see that a huge part of our team were freshmen it makes for a great season next year,” he said.

Artiaga also added that with Garcia and Ponce leading the team into next season he is “very positive” the team can compete for a state championship.