The Falcons win their second playoff game of 2017, defeating Chaffey College by a final score of 2-1. They will advance to the third round of the playoffs.

Although, the game ended with the same score as their first round matchup of 2-1, it was much different throughout.

In the last match they were down 0-1 for the majority of the 90 minutes, however, they never trailed against Chaffey College on Tuesday afternoon.

No. 13 Stephanie Nava, freshman, midfielder added, “We came into the game not wanting to feel the way we felt the first game, we didn’t want to put ourselves in that position again.”

This game told an alternate tale in comparison to the playoff opener, with Cerritos College scoring two goals in the first half and conceding only one in the second half.

That second half goal, which brought Chaffey College within one goal of a tie, was definitely not well received amongst Falcons players and their head coach.

No. 3 Mia Ramirez, freshman, defender said, “[Chaffey] got that goal in, it was unfortunate.”

Head Coach Ruben Gonzalez said, “I was hoping we would get that third goal and put it away– we had a couple opportunities there and we didn’t.

“We have to stay focused and not give up goals.”

Nava and Ramirez are both freshman, so they haven’t been with the team winning any of the championships.

Nava spoke about being a freshman on a team that has won five straight championships, saying, “it definitely puts a lot of pressure on me.”

“I feel like I still have to prove myself and prove that I’m worthy of one of those championships.”

Ramirez said, “you have to keep it going– we want to win a ring.”

During the final minutes of their first playoff game the team was focused and exhibited high amounts of energy.

Ramirez said, “We need to use that type of energy that we had at the end of that game throughout the entire game and I think we did that this game.”

She added that in order to achieve her goal the team needs to “start with intensity and end with intensity.”

Coach Gonzalez shared some comments on playing away versus at home, saying, “There’s a big advantage playing at home– we haven’t lost a playoff home game in a lot of years.”

As for playing on the road, “You might not get the calls that you normally get at home, things like that play into it.”

According to Coach Gonzalez, the goals to securing another win are simple, “Stay focused. Be hungry.”