The Cerritos College men’s soccer team obtained a 1-1 draw against its rival Mount San Antonio College on Oct. 25.
The Falcons and Mounties are still undefeated this season and are also number 4, Cerritos, and number 1, Mount San Antonio College, in the nation by United Soccer Coaches among Division III colleges.
In the first half, both teams had opportunities to score the opening goal. In the 19th minute, the Mounties had a goal negated by an offside call, while sophomore forward No. 11 Bryan Villalobos missed the lower right side of the net on his shot after getting behind the Mt. San Antonio defense.
The Mounties had two shots-on-goal which were both cleared of the goal line with sophomore defender No. 3 Ernie Cueva battling freshman midfielder No. 9 Jason Garcia in front of the net and held him at bay before he could get a clean shot on net.
Early in the second period, the Falcons had an opportunity to score when sophomore forward No. 9 Kevin Diaz had an open net against Mounties’ goalkeeper No. 1 Alain Hernandez but missed his shot-on-goal in the 52nd minute.
Four minutes later, the visitors struck first when sophomore midfielder No. 17 Gerardo Cazares scored thanks to an assist from sophomore forward No. 7 Angel Santoyo to give the Mounties a 1-0 lead.
Cerritos would even the score just before the hour mark, when freshman midfielder No. 19 Bryan Perez made a cross through traffic where sophomore forward No. 16 Alexis Vera would score off a header his second goal of the season.
Freshman goalkeeper No. 0 Luis Enciso recorded nine saves throughout the match after the Mounties dominated the game with the same number of shots-on-goal.
Both teams had played with discipline this match only three players were cautioned by the referee.
Mount San Antonio College sophomore defender No. 14 Jesus Garcia and freshman midfielder No. 12 Paul Iniguez were cautioned in the 10th and 30th minute respectively.
Only defender Cueva was given a yellow card in the 44th minute for the Falcons.
When asked about the team’s presentation on the field Coach Artiaga stated, “I think we did great. You can’t get mad to get a tie against Mt. SAC. It was a lot of fun to see a great game and have the support of the fans and the community.
I’m still proud of our guys. I guess we’ll have to wait until the second match in the conference tournament to possibly see them again.”
When asked about the result forward Vera said, “I feel good because we [as a team] gave it all against the #1 team in the nation. We are happy with a draw, we got to defend our home. It feels great to score a goal against Mt. SAC.”
Defender Cueva also stated that he had an opportunity to score and appreciated the support from the fans.
On Nov. 5 Cerritos will host Long Beach City College at 1 p.m.
