With the fall sports season nearing its end, Cerritos College’s men and women’s soccer teams will continue to compete as both teams have made it to the playoffs.
The Cerritos College men’s soccer team aims to get to the California State Championships after finishing the regular season in second place in the South Coast Conference after defeating East Los Angeles College 2-1 last Friday.
Forward Ruben Gonzalez said,” We tied a lot this season. Even though we didn’t get a lot of loses, [the ties] effect our record a bit.”
Forward Aaron Macedo and Goalkeeper Jhovany Hernandez will lead the team to the state tournament and their first step will be the first round of the Southern California Regionals on Saturday against Chaffey College.
Macedo is the Falcons’ leading goal scorer and scorer with 6 goals.
Hernandez, the number one goalkeeper for Cerritos, has a record of 9-1-5 and a goals against average of 0.99.
He also has seven shut outs.
Alongside them is forward Cesar Castillo, the Falcons’ leader in assist and second in points for the Falcons.
This is the second consecutive season that the Falcons finished second in the South Coast Conference.
The Falcons were awarded the No. 3 seed and they see several benefits in it.
“[Receiving the third seed] means we will have 2 or 3 home games. We will be playing [on our home field] up until the last round of the playoffs before the state finals [begin].”
The Women’s soccer team has continued to play well throughout the season and it has clinched its fifth consecutive South Coast Conference championship.
“I am very pleased with the team,” assistant coach Candice Silva said. “The sophomores have really been stepping up, and the freshmen have been filling in the gaps.”
The Falcons finished the regular season with the record of 18-1-2, a 12-0-2 in conference and a 16 game non-losing streak,.
Goalkeeper Sandra Coto expressed her confidence in the teams’ ability. “We do have an exceptional team, so we are really ready and prepared for (the playoffs).”
Coto finished her season off with a new single school season record by getting her 15th goal shutout, by getting five saves during the Falcons last game against East Los Angeles College.
The team has only allowed three goals in-conference this season, breaking the school record of four set during the 2006 season.
The Falcons first playoff game will be a rematch against ELAC (18-5-2) on Saturday.
