As a result of their 1-1 tie with host Pasadena City College on Tuesday, the Cerritos College men's soccer team must now defeat Mt. San Antonio on Friday in order to win the South Coast Conference championship. The Falcons (12-4-4, 8-2-3) have 27 points, while the Mounties (13-3-4, 9-3-1) have 28 points. The two teams will face each other on Friday at 3:00 p.m. in their conference finale at Cerritos. Mt. SAC won the conference title last year and eliminated Cerritos in the third round of the playoffs on their way to the state title.
The Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the 52nd minute when freshman Jose Ochoa (Paramount HS) sent a pass into the slot for freshman Cristian Zuniga (Montebello HS), where he scored into the far corner from 18 yards out. It was the fourth goal of the season for Zuniga and third in the last three games.
Just like in their tie with Long Beach City College last week, Cerritos saw their opponent score within a few minutes after taking a lead. The Vikings needed less than a minute to tie the game after the Falcons took a lead and settled for a 1-1 tie. In the contest against the Lancers, it took five minutes, as Eric Chavez scored on a re-direct after a corner kick past freshman goalkeeper Thomas Yeandle (Orange Lutheran HS).
The biggest play of the game took place in the 21st minute when PCC goalkeeper Gaetano Perez made a diving save on a penalty kick attempt by sophomore Thiago Lusardi (Centro Educational Ramos, Brazil), who entered the game fourth in the state with 17 goals. Perez went on to make eight saves in the game, while Yeandle posted four stops.
