For a three-game span of time early in the season, the Cerritos College men's soccer team had difficulty scoring. Even though they were kept off the scoreboard, their stellar defense and goalkeeping allowed them to post shutout ties. Since then, the Falcons have won nine straight games, with the most recent being a 3-0 victory over host Rio Hondo College in a South Coast Conference crossover game on Friday Cerritos (11-0-3) will play another crossover road game when they host Chaffey College in a 2:00 p.m. game next Tuesday.
In recording their state-leading 10th shutout of the season, the Falcons were able to get an early goal, which allowed them to settle into more of their style of play. They picked up another goal before halftime and then added an insurance goal with less than 15 minutes remaining.
Cerritos got on the board for the first time in the 10th minute when sophomore Luis Garcia (La Habra HS) moved the ball up the middle of the field looking for someone to pass the ball to. He spotted sophomore Oscar Canela (Paramount HS), who was able to strike the ball with his left foot and into the back of the net to get the offense started. Garcia continued to do what he does best... make plays. In the 26th minute, he started the team's second scoring drive when he fed a pass to freshman Christian Perez (Paramount HS), who was fouled. Continuing the play, Perez led a nice pass to sophomore Adrian Becerra (Morningside HS), whose shot cleared the bottom of the crossbar for a goal.
The defense continued to play well and control the play at midfield. They relied on freshmen Luis Lira (La Puente HS) and Eric Payeras (Connections Academy HS), along with sophomore Hector Jimenez (South East HS). Also working hard on both ends of the field were sophomore Guy Carven (National Haitian Student Alliance) and freshman Esteban Camacho (Mayfair HS), while freshman goalkeeper Jordan Aldama (North Torrance HS) recorded six saves in the shutout win.
The Falcons closed out their scoring when Garcia finished a length of the field play. Aldama cleared the ball to midfield, where freshman Carlos Payeras (Lennox Academy HS) connected with Garcia. Taking on a pair of defenders, Garcia was able to get enough distance where he could get off a strong strike that led to his team-leading 11th goal of the season.