The Falcons soccer team went up against Long Beach City (LBCV), at Cerritos, on Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. and won in a rainy climate 4-1 and reach the finals in the South Coast Conference (SCC) Tournament.
This game played the regular 90 minutes and it was an intense match throughout the game.
Freshman Julian Vazquez (No. 7) Forward, scored the first goal for Cerritos off a rebound by Kobe Chavez (No. 20), Freshman, Midfielder as the Falcons lead 1-0.
However, things slowed down with no team scoring at all from that first half and had a theme of a tough-nosed game.
Cerritos had nine shots on goal that half with LBCC only shooting the ball twice that half and LBCC and Cerritos each had seven fouls.
In the second half, things initially slowed down as both teams didn’t score but at 63 minutes, there was a scuffle with both teams arguing.
Out of that scuffle, Bryan Villa of LBCC was given a red card and Chavez of Cerritos was given a yellow card.
This incident showed to be important as scoring continued, even with constant rain as Vazquez scores another goal for the Falcons, pushing their lead to 2-0.
Three minutes later (76:11), Gabriel Oropeza (No. 10), Sophomore, Midfielder, scored the Falcon’s second goal and pushed the Falcon’s lead even further.
The Falcons keep on pushing the pace as Christian Perez (No. 13), Sophomore, Forward, scores off the assist by Diego Cortes and makes it 4-0 Cerritos.
With the game about to end, Diego Albanez for LBCC scores a last-minute goal to stop LBCC from being shut out, making the final score 4-1 with Cerritos on top.
Cerritos constantly put pressure on LBCC as they had 22 shots on goals the whole game, which tripled the shots on goals LBCC had.
Head Coach Benny Artiaga was in great spirits with the win and said his team’s performance was really good.
“The last time we played this team, for the first 10 minutes, they took the ball away from us,” Cerritos’ head coach said, “We neutralized that by pressing them high and it really worked to our advantage.”
“Once we gained control of the game, our boys took over,” the former Falcons Forward added.
He said that the team will be ready for whoever they go up against, Mt. Sac or Rio Hondo, “We’ll be ready, this group, [knows] what it takes to win and we know what it takes to compete.”
However, the Falcons coach said he’d want Mt. San Antonio to win because it’s Cerritos’ rival, “It always makes for a good spectacle with the fans, we know that’s what the fans want and hopefully we can give that to them.”
“Our defense did a really good job, didn’t have to face any serious shots,” Freshman Goalkeeper Steven Ruiz (No. 0) said, “My defense did a good job keeping me tidy, especially with the weather conditions, they really helped me out.”
“However we play, we just got to keep it tidy, we played good so just no fouls in the box because that’s the only way they can score [off set-pieces],” he said, “They can’t break us down.”
Cerritos will be playing in the finals of the SCC Tournament at El Camino on Nov. 11 at 3 p.m. and will be watching the Rio Hondo versus Mt. San Antonio game to find out who they’ll be playing in the finals.
