There was a four-game block where the Cerritos College men's soccer team scored just four goals and went 1-2-1 and fell out of first place in the South Coast Conference. But in their last two games, the Falcons have scored four goals in each, including a dominating 4-0 home decision over East Los Angeles College (3-12-3, 1-7-3). The win moves Cerritos (12-4-2, 8-2-1) back into a first place tie with Los Angeles Harbor College with three games left. They will travel to Long Beach City College on Friday for a 3:00 p.m. contest.
It was a 1-0 game at intermission, although Cerritos dominated the majority of the game with possession of the ball. They had two goals called back in the first half, with the first as a result of an offside call and the other when the referee ruled that freshman Cristian Zuniga (Montebello HS) kicked the ball out of the hands of Huskies goalkeeper Salvador Falcon after the initial shot was bobbled right before the halftime whistle.
A goal that was not disallowed was the direct kick from sophomore Thiago Lusardi (Centro Educational Ramos, Brazil HS) from 25 yards out that he drilled just under the crossbar in the 31st minute for his 16th goal of the year.
The Falcons padded the final score with three goals in the last 15 minutes of the game, including a pair by Zuniga. He made it a 2-0 lead in the 75th minute after freshman Edward Robles (Annenberg HS) dribbled down the right side and worked the ball past Carlos Del Campo and Francisco Lazaro. He saw Zuniga all alone and lofted a pass to him, where he chipped the ball into the net. A nice lead pass from freshman Andy Ramirez (South East HS) to a streaking Zuniga left him alone in front of Falcon, where he chipped the ball over the keeper's head in the 80th minute.
The scoring closed out with less than :10 seconds remaining in the game, as Robles worked his way around the left side and scored at a tight angle, with his shot sneaking inside the goal post. In addition to the two disallowed goals, the Falcons had two other great chances to score, with sophomore Rudy Montoya (Bell HS) and freshman Edwin Corona (Cathedral HS) getting turned away. Freshman goalkeeper Thomas Yeandle (Orange Lutheran HS) was not tested the entire game and made four harmless saves.
Photos by Daryl Peterson
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