Pete Moye’
Sports Button

Midfielder Carlos Escobar scored one goal in the first half and assisted the Cerritos College men’s soccer team (12-1-1) to a 3-1 home victory over East Los Angeles College on Tuesday.

Escobar, who was recruited by ELAC feels it is one of Cerritos College’s biggest rivals.

“To me, this is the main rivalry. I was thinking of going to ELAC (after high school) because I have friends on the team,” he said. “They talk a lot of trash now because I didn’t go.”

Head Coach Benny Artiaga feels the team came out strong to start the game, which he also states it as out of the ordinary for the Falcons.

“We usually go down early and then have to come back after the other team has a lead. I am really impressed with the [team’s] performance,” he said.

The Falcons scored the first two goals of the game within three minutes of each other in the first half.

“We had a phenomenal first half [against ELAC]. We really stuffed it down their throats,” he said.

“We had 80 percent ball possession throughout the game,” he said, “unfortunately, we only had only had

three goals to show for it. Other than that we did a great job.”

ELAC was held scoreless until less than eight minutes in the first half.

Goalkeeper Danny Lizama had four saves in the same half, bu gave up one goal in the first half.

“We just broke down defensively. One of the defensive players let one get by,” Artiaga said.

Midfielder Christian Alvarez had two assist, with one assist to midfielder Daniel Garcia, in the second half with less than six minutes left in the game.

Garcia came off the bench in the second half and attributes his goal to staying focused sticking to the game plan.

“I went in there and did my thing by running up and down. I was in the right place when Alvarez gave me the ball,” Garcia said.

Cerritos College had 14 shots on the goal, while ELAC put up eight with the majority coming in the second half.

Addressing the team after the game, Artiaga said, “It doesn’t matter if your name is under the assist or goals, we all did something today to help us get this win.”

He also stated that he was happy with the victory because of how good he feels ELAC is.

“They [ELAC] lost 1-2 to Mount San Antonio College. That alone shows how good they are.”

Forward Alberto Lazaro also added a goal in the Falcons’ aggressively-played first half and thinks the key of the victory was how they played.

“Usually we give goals away early. Instead we came out positive and aggressive,” Lazaro said.

Lazaro acquired his goal in the first half off a misjudged kick from the ELAC goalkeeper.

“He was going to kick it to the other side, when it came my way,” he said.

With one injury to an ELAC player late in the game, Artiaga utilized the chance to bring in more players from the bench at the seven minute mark in the second half.

Artiaga keeps the positive attitude further down conference, highlighting the teams rematch against Mt. SAC.

The team lost to Mt. SAC. 1-4, in the only home loss of the season and Artiaga feels the team has nothing to worry about.

The Falcons will host Los Angeles Harbor College on Friday at 2 p.m.