The intense 106-degree heat did not phase the Cerritos College men’s soccer team as is managed to pull off a 2-1 win against Chaffey College on Oct. 24.
Chaffey College opened up the scoreboard after Falcons keeper Jordan Aldama was unable to stay with the ball coming off a header and on the rebound was netted by Jose Gomez-Ferrer.
The Falcons wasted no time: Six minutes later, at the 12 minute, Eric Payeras found Luis Garcia open who received and controlled the ball from outside the box — surprising the Chaffey goalie, netting the goal.
The game was tied 1-1; both teams studied each other, seeing how they could score their second goal.
Due to the intense heat conditions, the referee stopped the game every 15 minutes to allow the players to stay hydrated.
At the 34-minute, Chaffey was close to gaining the lead after its Gustavo Chavez found an open space over the Cerritos defenders, passing the ball to Oscar Casillas-Palomar, who had shot one goal but was deflected by Jordan Aldama.
The Falcons also had its opportunity to take the lead when Garcia ran on the right sideline leaving defenders behind; passing the ball to Bryan Rodriguez, who found Carlos Payeras open and netted the second goal for Cerritos — but was called for being off-sides.
The first half ended 1-1 with both teams having their opportunities, but being unable to take the lead.
As the second half was underway — just like the first half, it was Chaffey who had the first opportunity.
Chavez looked to surprise Cerritos keeper Hernan Perez who entered the pitch in the second half but was unsuccessful as Perez deflected the ball to the corner.
Minute 10 of the second half, Guy Carven found Garcia open on the right side of the pitch and crossed the ball to him. Garcia controlled the ball, cut inside and let out a cross to Carven as he ran into the box for a header that went right above the crossbar.
Falcons kept being persistent, but Chaffey kept catching Falcons with offside traps leading to cut plays that Falcons were building.
With the 1-1 draw, Chaffey began to park the bus and letting the Falcons take the initiative with the ball hoping to catch Cerritos off guard with a counter attack.
Cerritos kept searching for the goal and found it at the last minute of the game when Garcia lobbed the ball over Chaffey’s defense and found Hector Jimenez open who put the ball to sleep with his chest and finished with his right foot.
After the 2-1 Cerritos lead Chaffey looked to respond quickly but were too late because Cerritos held them off and the referee blew the final whistle.
