The Cerritos men’s soccer team was coming off a week of rest and against a tough Orange Coast College team one would expect some rust, but the Falcons proved otherwise.

Cerritos was sharp with its offense throughout the game, as it scored nine goals and allowed nothing defensively.

Cerritos, heading into the game No. 2 in the nation, solidified itself as a force to be reckoned with heading into its next match against rival Tuesday at Mt. SAC.

Coach Benny Artiaga said, “It is a strong team defensively, its aggressive, but we never allowed it to utilize its strengths with our great ball movement. We neutralized it with how well we moved the ball.”

Cerritos scored two goals within the first 12 minutes of the game.

The first goal was set up by freshman Ruben Gonzalez who took a defender to the box and gave sophomore Salvador Melendrez a nice feed, who finished with a goal.

The second goal was scored by returning All-American Luis Gonzalez, who took two OCC defenders, then passed the ball to Melendrez who gave it back for a nice give-and-go play that resulted in Gonzalez’s first of two goals on the evening.

The offense wasn’t done in the first half, the third goal came in the 34th minute, Cesar Castillo stole the ball from an OCC defender and fed Bryant Reyes for the third goal.

Cesar Castillo wasn’t done manufacturing goals, as he attempted to center the ball, the OCC goalie caught the ball, dropped it, then tried to fall on it but accidentally let the ball roll past him and into the goal.

The first half ended on an injury to an OCC defender who collided with a Cerritos defender, the only true break the opposing defense ever had from the Falcons’ offense.

Cerritos wasn’t done yet, it stored its fifth goal eight minutes into the second half, Briant Reyes crossed the ball beautifully over the defenders right to Castillo’s feet, who shot the ball right past the goalie.

The Cerritos onslaught ended with a PK from Luis Gonzalez which made the final tally 9-0 and improved the Falcons record to 6-0-1, entering its upcoming match against Mt. SAC.

“Next game is do-or-die for us, it’s a good team, the only undefeated team left, other than us. This match usually determines who wins conference and ultimately state,” said Artiaga of the Falcons’ next opponents.

“We were 4-0 against Mt. SAC last year so we’ve got a good record against them, but it’s just as good if not better than it was last year because it’s still undefeated too.

“I played well against it last year, so I expect it to try and stop me this time around. It’s going to be a tough game. But I feel like, if we win, we can go all the way again,” Gonzalez said.