Coming off a season where the Cerritos College men's soccer team went 17-0-7 on the year, the start of the 2018 campaign opened with a 2-1 loss at the hands of host College of the Desert on Tuesday. The Falcons (0-1-0), who advanced to the CCCAA State Semifinals, and opened the season ranked #3 in the country by the United Soccer Coaches, peppered the Roadrunners goal with a multitude of shots, but could only get one in the net.
The team will travel to the Hartnell Tournament this weekend at take on defending CCCAA State Champion Fresno City College at 1:00 p.m. on Friday.
Cerritos opened the scoring in the 27th minute when freshman Bryan Ortega (Cesar Chavez HS) finished off a play set by by sophomore Christian Perez (Paramount HS) for a 1-0 lead. Ortega scored on Desert goalkeeper Jesus Negrete, who would go on to make 13 saves on the day.
It took College of the Desert a shade over two minutes to tie the game, while they took a lead they would not relinquish exactly seven minutes later. Falcon goalkeeper Jordan Aldama (North Torrance HS), who didn't allow more than one goal in a game last season, was beat twice in the span of seven minutes and finished with four saves. Roadrunner midfielder Lucas Rosales scored both goals, each in a similar fashion. With Aldama well out of the goal crease, Rosales scored both goals from about 45 yards out, with his shot getting past Aldama.
As a team, Cerritos took an astonishing 43 shots, with 14 of them on goal. Perez led the team with 12 shots (five on goal) with 14 of the 16 field players accounting for at least one shot attempt. They spent most of the second half on the Desert side of the field and took 10 corner kicks, which resulted in 11 shots (four on goal). Ortega finished with eight shots, while sophomore Esteban Camacho (Mayfair HS) added seven.