After struggling to finish off opponents earlier in the season, the Cerritos College men's soccer team is stringing together goals and putting teams away in the first half. On Tuesday in their South Coast Conference match against El Camino College, the Falcons (6-2-4) put three on the board in the first half and went on for a 5-0 win. The triumph extends their unbeaten streak to seven games (4-0-3) and keeps the team in first place in the South Division. On Friday, they will travel to face rival Mt. San Antonio College in a 6:00 p.m. conference crossover game.
Cerritos opened the scoring quickly against the winless Warriors (0-9-2, 0-3-1), as freshman Luis Garcia (La Habra HS) drilled a shot from 30 yards out that cleared the crossbar and found the back of the net. In the 24th minute, freshman Oscar Canela (Paramount HS) scored his first of two goals on the day, when the Falcons turned in a fine display of passing.
Garcia worked the ball on the right side and crossed a pass to sophomore Edwin Corona (Cathedral HS). Not missing a beat, Corona pushed the ball closer to the box and crossed a pass to Canela among a slew of players. He was able to get enough on his shot to misdirect the ball into the net. Prior to the end of the first half, Corona dropped the ball in front of the net, where freshman Adrian Becerra (Morningside HS) got his foot on the ball and rolled a shot past a diving Hector Gutierrez, who was in goal for El Camino.
The Falcons never let up with their offensive pressure and scored less than four minutes into the second half for a 4-0 lead. Becerra played the ball on the edge on the left side, where he spotted Corona in front of the goal. The play concluded quickly, with Corona earning his first goal of the game to go along with his three assists. The scoring concluded in the 61st minute with Corona picking up that third assist, as he threaded a pass through the Warriors to Canela, who worked past the final defender and scored into an empty left side of the net.
Appearing in his first game in five weeks, freshman goalkeeper Hernan Perez (Pioneer HS) recorded three saves to earn the shutout win, his second of the season.
Photos by Daryl Peterson
