The Cerritos College Men’s Soccer team obtained their first win by defeating College of the Desert 2-0 on Friday, Aug. 23. For the Falcons, this was a rematch from last season, as Cerritos lost 2-1 against the Roadrunners.
Cerritos could have been down to 10 men, after sophomore goalkeeper No. 1 Jose Azpeitia fouled a roadrunner in the 18th minute, Azpeitia was given a yellow card, for a denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
Freshman goalkeeper No. 0 Luis Enciso substituted Azpeitia, after the yellow card, in the 20th minute.
In the 26th minute sophomore forward No. 11 Bryan Villalobos scored the first goal. The assist came from freshman midfielder No. 19 Bryan Perez.
The Falcons took a 1-0 lead and kept the lead during the first half into halftime. The roadrunners midfielder No. 8 Jonathan Zambrano was given a yellow card for a tackle on sophomore forward No. 9 Kevin Diaz in the 30th minute.
College of the Desert had two chances to get an equalizer, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
In the 66th minute, a corner kick was awarded for Cerritos. Sophomore defender No. 3 Ernesto Cueva scored the second goal, which was assisted by Villalobos and defender No. 5 Eugene Martinez.
Sitting near the goal line, Cueva was able to chip the ball past a diving roadrunners goalkeeper Uriel Lopez for the goal.
Defender Cueva when questioned on the team’s performance said, “We knew we had to get the win after last season’s defeat. Defensively we did great, offensively we need to improve.”
The roadrunners had most of the ball possession in the second half, until their defense conceded the goal. Also they did not have any shots-on-goal throughout the game.
When questioned on the improvement of the team Artiaga said, “Offense has to improve. We didn’t create enough opportunities [shots-on-goal]. Our two goals came from set pieces.”
Cerritos was given another yellow card by the referee, defender Martinez in the 80th minute after a late tackle on an opposing player.
Head Coach Benjamin Artiaga stated, that the team had a terrible performance from the offense. “Offensive players wanted to play like superheroes. Good performance from defensive players or this game would have ended 0-0.”
Freshman midfielder No. 7 Armando Ibarra, Jr. when asked on his own performance stated, “It was a tough first game for me, but hopefully I can get my first goal this season.” When questioned on the improvement of the team Ibarra said, “Offense had opportunities to score, however we couldn’t score more than two goals.”
The defending state and National Champions will play on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at a home game against Fullerton College at 4 p.m. After the home game, Cerritos will play the Hartnell Tournament on Friday, August 30 against Hartnell College.
