Cerritos College returns to the winning scene and has their six shut-out game after defeating Oxnard College 3-0.

The Falcons appeared to have a slow start the first few minutes of the game while Oxnard College had control of the ball.

Cerritos had their first scare within the eighth minute when Oxnard College centered the ball from left to right ending in a volley which goalie Jordan Aldama saved.

The trouble continued five minutes later when a questionable hand ball was not called in favor for Oxnard College.

Cerritos continued to have trouble creating plays offensively and keeping the ball but eventually picked up the pace of the game.

Despite having trouble offensively, Coach Benny Artiaga said,” Our job […] is to make sure we do our job defensively so the offense will come; we have to trust it.”

The offense did come eventually for the Falcons in minute 24.

Hector Jimenez decided to incorporate himself into the offensive and assisted Christian Perez with a through ball which left him alone inside the box and opened up the scoreboard for Cerritos.

Being able to score the first goal, Christian Perez described it as a relief.

Perez also said, “coming off the bench it’s kind of hard just come in the game and put one up for the team.”

After the first goal was scored Cerritos began to take control of the ball and the game.

Perez said the team also felt relief after the first goal was scored “we could settle down and play our game now.”

Perez had another chance to score while inside the box but the ball did not have enough power and was an easy save by Oxnard College’s keeper.

Oxnard College had a counter attack opportunity, but Bryan Rodriguez committed a tactical foul which resulted in stopping the play and receiving a yellow card.

The foul allowed the Falcons to finish the the first half with a 1-0 lead.

In the second half the Falcons were a completely different team taking initiative on the pitch by proposing to go on the offense and taking control of the game.

Coach Artiaga said this was due to the team doing “such a good job defensively of shutting them down, making them work, keep the ball, make them run, make them move.”

Artiaga continued, “if those things are in place then we’re going to be the dominant team in the second half no matter what.”

Early on in minute 50 of the second half, Luis Garcia put in a through ball leaving Bryan Rodriguez with the opportunity to put the Falcons up 2-0 but his shot hit the post and went wide.

The Falcons kept pressuring offensively to get the 2-0 lead.

Guy Carven put in a long ball pass to the open space for Marc Calderon to compete with his defender. Calderon beat his defender, cut inside, and passed it to Luis Garcia who shot it over the crossbar.

The 2-0 lead came after Luis Garcia won a loose ball in the midfield and had himself a Messi-like dribble into the box.

Garcia cutback his defender leaving him able to take a shot which Oxnard’s goalkeeper touched but was not enough to keep the ball from touching the back of the net.

Cerritos kept the pressure up on top, looking to amplify the score with the compact pressure by the Falcons. Oxnard’s chances to score were null.

With ten minutes left to finish the game, Jose Rivera setup Oscar Canela for a clear shot but blew it just over the crossbar.

The final goal of the game when Oscar Canela had a shot inside the box but the ball hit crossbar and seemed to have crossed the goal line but to assure the goal Jose Rivera came running inside the box and headed the ball inside.

Falcons took the 3-0 win with their sixth shutout game defense Hector Jimenez said “It means a lot for us having that defensive structure secure back there that’s our strongest point and we’re going to keep trying to improve and keep that streak going.”

The Falcons look to amplify their unbeaten streak and get their seventh shutout game when they visit Taft college on Tuesday Sept. 19.