The Cerritos College men’s soccer team obtained its rematch against Pasadena City College, in the first round, on Friday, Nov. 8 by winning a penalty shootout 5-3; after a 1-1 draw. On Tuesday, the Falcons defeated El Camino College 4-2, in the semifinals.
In the first round match, the Falcons conceded a goal in the 31st minute of the first half when Mario Urbina attacked a rolling ball toward the Cerritos goal and scored on freshman goalkeeper No. 0 Luis Enciso, who was out of position on the play due to his hesitation.
Five minutes later, sophomore forward No. 9 Kevin Diaz tied the game converting on a penalty kick after Pasadena City’s Jared Hernandez was called for a handball in the 18-yard box.
Lancers’ goalkeeper No. 1 Steven Sandoval recorded seven saves throughout the match which were enough to keep the game 1-1.
Sophomore defender No. 12 Victor Trujillo was sent off by the referee in stoppage time for a denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity from the Lancers.
The match ended in a draw after regulation, since the match was a knockout stage game the game went to penalty kicks.
Cerritos was required to shoot first, with sophomore midfielder No. 10 Bryan Ortega scoring into the lower right corner past goalkeeper Sandoval. On the Lancers’ first attempt, Enciso redeemed himself as he stoned Andres Velasquez by correctly diving to his right and saved the ground-level shot.
Everyone else was able to convert their penalty kicks, with freshman midfielder No. 6 Joel Martinez clinching the win with the team’s fifth conversion. Enciso dove the correct way on every Lancer attempt, but made one save, which would turn out to be enough to advance for Cerritos.
According to Coach Artiaga the offense needed to improve and that Trujillo [despite being ejected] did the right thing in giving away a free-kick and that he was concentrated in the game.
In the semifinals, Cerritos College took the lead in the 26th minute when Sophomore forward No. 11 Bryan Villalobos scored thanks to an error from the Warriors’ defense.
“It was great to score again when my team needed a goal in the match,” Villalobos said.
Before halftime, freshman midfielder No. 7 Armando Ibarra scored the second goal for the Falcons.
In the second half, forward Diaz scored two goals in the 54th and 79th minutes, to extend the Falcons’ lead 4-0.
“It felt awesome to score goals from open play for my team,” Said Diaz.
However, El Camino scored two goals before the end of the game, forwards Jonathan Guardado and Cristo Deras scored in the 83rd and 87th minutes respectively.
Coach Artiaga stated, “It was a great game we had a beautiful start we demoralized the No. 3 team in the conference. We beat them in their house and we beat them in our house. Now we are ready to win the conference championship.”
The Falcons lost to El Camino on Nov. 15.
