Men’s Soccer set to ‘kick’ opponents to the curb

The Cerritos College men’s soccer team will try to look past its 2-1 loss to Mt. SAC in the 3rd round playoff game last season and will start the 2010 season next week against Los Angeles Mission College.

The team has been putting its full effort into the practices to prepare itself for the new season. Ranking 3rd place at the end of last season, the players are very determined to finish the tournament on top.

With the support of each other, the men’s soccer players feed off of each other’s energy, which brings a lot of motivation to the players. This has shown throughout their performance during practices and games.

Despite losing star forward and last years National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s national player of the year Luis Gonzalez to Cal Poly Pomona, the Falcons still feel confident in their abilities.

Under-20 national team player, Ruben Gonzalez knows that the bond in the team is what gives them the ability to play well together. “I feel real confident this season, we have a lot of retuners. I really think that we can win the championship.” Gonzalez said.

The team’s head coach, Benjamin Artiaga, who brought the players victory in 2008 as state champions, trains the team in displine and structure. This training benefits the team’s endurance to play even better on the field.

“These guys are motivated as it is, they always have that target on their back that their the best team. To every other team when they play us, it is their absolute game of the year.” Artiaga said.

The main goal for this season is to compete against new challenging teams that puts the players’ skills to the test in overcoming last seasons loss to Mt. SAC, and to have an outcome as winners this year.

With the mere focus of putting their full potential to all of the games, the men’s soccer team is serious when it comes to concentrating on winning and to not stress over the matter of playing in the game.

The team’s forward Cesar Castillo explains what goes on through his mind before a game.

“We really don’t have that mentality that we’re going to lose. That never crosses our mind. We come out here knowing what we have to do.”

Each invididual strives for their purpose in the team by showing all of the qualities in the games that will bring them to win the national title at the end of their season.

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