Cerritos College women’s soccer player Claudia Ibarra was a little rattled after a Long Beach City College player cut-off her attempt at a third goal late in the second half of the Falcons’ shutout of the Vikings at Long Beach, 3-0 on Friday, Nov. 2.

Arriving via the Universidad de Guadalajara, forward Ibarra, spoke through an interpreter.

“I worked hard and it just happened.

“I like to put them away and do the best I can,” said Ibarra.

After Cerritos took a 2-0 lead into the halftime break, head coach Ruben Gonzalez elected to keep his original starting lineup to begin the second half.

Gonzalez said of his strategy for the second period, ”I want to put the team away early and not give them any hope.”

In their first meeting of the season on Oct. 9, Long Beach City College surprised Cerritos College on its home field, 2-1, knocking it from the number one ranking in the state.

Sitting atop the South Coast Conference at 10-1-1 (14-1-2 overall), the Falcons seemed primed to avenge their only loss of the season to their south county rivals, the Vikings.

Not until the 82nd minute of play did Cerritos College sophomore midfielder Lauren Nanez score the third and final goal of the game, coming on an assist from fellow midfielder Julissa Castaneda.

Most of the day’s play was on the Long Beach side with Long Beach goalie Jeanette DeAnda taking 23 shots near her, with 10 on goal, 3 finding the back of the net by Cerritos College players.

Her counterpart in the Cerritos College net, Falcons’ goalie Maria Santoyo, stopped all 5 shots on goal, preserving the shutout.

Assisting Ibarra on her first goal, Cerritos College’s Nanez took advantage of a free corner kick by recovering the deflected pass and sending it towards Ibarra where she found the seam and put it in to start the Cerritos College 3-0 run.

“It felt good to get a goal and an assist against them,” Nanez said.

The game was filled with vicious tackling, hard hits and illegal use of hands.

“You know, it’s kind of part of the game sometimes, you just have to take it and go, you have to get aggressive too or else they (Vikings) are just going to keep cracking you,” Nanez said.

She was a little sore, but no injuries to report.

Nanez said, “I was really proud of everyone who worked their (expletive) off.”

Receiving a yellow card in the second half, Cerritos College forward Jazmin Aquas said, “I got a little angry because there was some dirty play out there, I just think it was funny that he (the referee) was marking all of our (penalties) and to me that was not fair.”

With the win, the Falcons clinched the South Coast Conference Championship.

Cerritos College goes on the road again when it plays against the Pasadena City College Lancers at Pasadena City College on Nov. 6 at 3 p.m.