Not since the last game of the 2005 season and the first two games in 2006 has the Cerritos College men's soccer team lost three straight games. But on Friday with their 3-1 loss to host Los Angeles Harbor College, the Falcons have now dropped three straight games to fall to 8-5-2 overall and 4-4-0 in the highly competitive South Coast Conference. Cerritos will look to snap their skid on Tuesday when they travel to Compton to face ECC Compton Center in a 4:00 p.m. conference game.
During the 2006 season when the team dropped their first two games, they went on to win the state championship. But if the Falcons are to make the post-season, they need to turn things around, as they are currently tied for fourth place with six games remaining.
In the loss to the Seahawks (9-3-3, 4-2-2), dominant possession of the ball still hadn't resulted in any goals through the first 20 minutes. But a transition play off a corner kick gave LA Harbor a 1-0 lead, which would last for 10 minutes until freshman Michael Bautista (Norwalk HS) fed sophomore Carlos Escobar (Roosevelt HS), who scored his first goal of the season.
Less than five minutes later, the Seahawks would score the eventual game-winning goal on another corner kick against freshman goalkeeper Benito Gonzalez (Long Beach Millikan HS), who made three saves on the day. On the play, Bautista attempted to clear the ball, but failed and LA Harbor was there to capitalize. A second half goal by the Seahawks sealed the Falcons fate after missing several scoring opportunities.
Photo by Daryl Peterson