For parents like Blanca Mora, it was exciting to expect more wins after the Falcons soccer team played their first game of the season, seeing that Cerritos College won 7 – 0 against Cypress.

Team captain Luis Garcia explained after the Cerritos vs. Cypress game on Friday, Aug. 25 that the team worked hard due to the intensity of their practice being “over the top.”

He continued, “I wouldn’t say the opponent was easy, but they had their struggles here and there,” later noting that Cypress struggled down the lines; meanwhile the Falcons’ right wings were “on their A game,” making it more difficult for the Chargers than they were used to at practice.

“But you can’t compare to a Mount Sac game,” added Garcia, “The intensity and the rivalry that’s always been there is just over the top.”

Garcia concluded that “everything just flows the way it’s supposed to.”

But things haven’t been “flowing” totally smooth according to head coach Benny Artiaga.

According to Artiaga, the team had a car accident going up to Mammoth that helped bond the Falcons together, adding that he thinks the team played for each other.

He said, “We had six guys in the hospital; we had one kid choppered out because of that accident (we were facing death), it helped bring the team together.”

Meanwhile, the head coach has been injured by not being healthy for the last two years. Artiaga wasn’t allowed to coach, he commented this year, the team will “put the work back in, to make sure we get Cerritos back where it’s supposed to be.”

He added that Cerritos is a “powerhouse” in soccer, and he plans on keeping it there; noting the Falcons have played four state titles, winning three.

The head coach mentioned that Cerritos expects the team play this way and win a state title, explaining that the way the Falcons played against the Chargers is how they ought to carry the season.

He buttressed his point by adding that everyone coming off the sidelines was hungry.

But thought the team was hungry after their first game of the season, Artiaga believes that this wasn’t a good enough opponent for the Falcons, and added that he hopes the team will be tested a little bit more at the next game.

He concluded that if a student were watching the game, one thing he would want them to take away is how relentless the team was and how it kept up the pressure for the duration of the game.

“We come here to win state titles. We don’t come here to be an average team,” asserted Artiaga, declaring, “Now that I’m healthy and I’m back, the team is definitely responding the way it should.”