With the game clock stopped at two minutes in the second half, the Falcons found themselves down 0-1 with San Diego Mesa in the lead on Saturday, Nov. 18.
They scored a goal about 30 seconds before the referee called the game, tying it 1-1 and sending it to extra time, eventually going on to win it 2-1 in the second ET.
No. 14 sophomore Defender Jackie Beristain, who connected on the clutch goal late in the second half that sent the game into ET, was confident in her team, saying “We knew we were going to get a goal.
“Work ethic always beats talent — so, we just worked our asses off today.”
She also attributed her late game heroics to working hard throughout the season.
Beristain said, “We have been training at six in the morning every single day since July, we’ve been doing fitness every Sunday [this is when all that] mattered the most, it definitely came in clutch today.”
Forward Itzel Ballesteros, No. 9, gave her perspective, “seeing the ball hit the net was a rush of all kinds of emotion.
She added that some of the players “even cried [tears] of happiness. It was so overwhelming for the team as a whole.”
Ballesteros, sophomore, talked about the five year championship streak, “since I started playing here at Cerritos [College] it’s been a constant pressure to keep the winning legacy going.”
“We worked so hard, so I feel like we owe it to ourselves to do anything in our will to continue the streak.”
Head Coach Ruben Gonzalez said, “I think we started off a little slow because our opponent did a good job.
“We need to bring more energy from the beginning of the game.”
He later said it was “a little frustrating” that the team was down for the majority of the game.
His women’s soccer club has won five straight championships, that streak almost ended in this game.
Although, Gonzalez wasn’t nervous about the streak on the brink of being snagged, however, it did make him “frustrated.”
According to, Gonzalez, their defense kept them in the game, “our defense has been great all year long we only gave up seven goals in the regular season.”
They gave up one goal in the first half of this game. Then they shutout San Diego Mesa in the second half and both ET’s, respectively.
They advance to the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
