It’s hard to imagine that a team that won a state championship last year could enter this season with a chip on its shoulder, but that’s just the case with the Cerritos College men’s soccer team.

Coming into the new season, the Falcons are ranked No. 2 in the nation, and they are out to prove that they deserve to be No. 1.

“We’ve been flirting with it,” head coach Benny Artiaga said. “Ideally, you’d like to get to that No. 1 spot and secure your place in the entire U.S. as the premier college, and I think we have the caliber of players to do it.”

To put it in the terms of midfielder Juan Mejias, “Settling for second is not an option.”

Although the program’s first ever national title is the ultimate goal this year, both players and coaches know it will not be an easy task.

It makes things especially difficult when every team is looking to knock you down a peg.

“Every team plays you like it’s its World Cup. On certain days you can be playing a really good game, but the other team just wants it more,” Artiaga said.

“Every game is like a final for (the other team),” Mejia agreed.

This sense of both determination and confidence shared by the coaching staff and players is well justified.

All one has to do is take a look at the 2009 roster to see that, on paper, the Falcons are the favorites to win another state title this year.

Leading the attack is returning All-American Luis Gonzalez.

Gonzalez is looking to improve on last year’s season in which he scored 24 goals to go along with his 17 assists and ended the year as the runner up for National Player of the Year.

The talented striker is considered to be one of, if not the top, recruit in the nation coming into this year.

Coach Artiaga commented, “He has offers from Santa Barbara, from Irvine, from Northridge. In fact, I probably couldn’t think of a school that doesn’t want him.”

Gonzalez is only the biggest name on a list of potential stars that make up this year’s roster. Most noticeable on offense are fellow captains Timmy Seo and Stephan Mangu.

Both players were on the All-South Coast Conference (SCC) second team a year ago.

Leading the defense will be All-SCC first team member Rene Hernandez.

These leaders make up only a small part of a large group of players that are returning from last year’s state championship team.

Artiaga acknowledged, “We have a very solid core.

It’s very difficult to say here’s my starting 11. I think it’s an open competition for freshmen.”

That’s good news for players like Eddie Valencia and Herman Rivas who will be competing everyday in practice, with both returners and their fellow freshmen, for the chance to make an immediate impact this year.

The men’s team looks to start its title defense on the right foot by playing in the Mt. SAC tournament on next Friday, and then travel to Salinas to participate in the Hartnell tournament on Sep. 4-5, where they will take on the top schools from Northern California.

The team’s first home game will be Sep. 11 at 4 p.m. when its hosts Golden West Rustlers.