The Cerritos Men’s soccer team obtained its rematch against the No. 1 team in the state, Taft College, ending 1-0 on Sept. 18.

Taft College dominated the first half with five shots-on-goal. However, Cerritos dominated the second half with seven shots-on-goal.

The game’s winning goal was scored late in the second half when freshman midfielder No. 17 Bryan Ortega, gave an assist to freshman midfielder No. 24 Carlos Perez, who scored in the 87th minute.

Perez scored his second goal of the season. His first goal came in the previous match against Oxnard College on Sept. 14.

Sophomore goalkeeper No. 1 Jordan Aldama, got a third consecutive clean sheet with four saves in the match. One save led to an injury for Cougars forward No. 17, Hugo Magaña.

The Falcons also played with discipline this match, even though 25 fouls were called by the referee. Two yellow cards were given to sophomore defender No. 5, Luis Lira and sophomore midfielder No. 6, Esteban Camacho.

The Cougars did not escape the penalty cards as they also received a red card after the goal in the 87th minute.

Coach Benjamin Artiaga stated, “This win is awesome, we are coming strong. We had key adjustments and beat the number one team in the state. This game made these boys look like men.”

Cerritos did not have sophomore midfielder No. 10 Erick Gallinar and sophomore forward No. 13 Christian Perez both due to injury.

Freshman midfielder No. 24 Carlos Perez when questioned on the team’s performance said, “Pretty good game against a strong opponent.”

When asked about the referee he stated, “The referee gave Taft College no good calls, but the referee does not determine the game, we do.”

When asked about the goal scored he said, “It is very exciting to score, but I do not want to take all credit.”

Freshman defender No. 3 Ernesto Cueva praised the team’s performance and said, “We had a great game and we played all out.”

Also when questioned if the team was frustrated Cueva stated, “There was no frustration when other team had shots-on-goal. The game could have gone either way.”

Cueva said that he was happy with the results of the game and that it felt “good” to beat the number one team in the state.

Ortega also interpreted the team performance and said, “It was a really tense game, great atmosphere. We did not stop pushing the pedal.”

Ortega also said it felt great to beat Taft College and credited the teams win to having a “positive attitude.”

Most recently on Sept. 21 Cerritos Men’s Soccer faced off against Allan Hancock College and won the match 3-1.