Picking up their first win of the season, the Cerritos College men's soccer team did it in an explosive way. Facing Irvine Valley College (0-3-0) in their second game of the Hartnell Tournament, the Falcons (1-1-1) recorded a 6-1 win, which was their largest offensive output since a 6-0 victory over Los Angeles Harbor College last season. The team will play their first home game of the year when they host Golden West College at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.

Freshman Bryan Ortega (Cesar Chavez HS), who scored three second half goals in the win, moved into the state lead in points (10), while his four goals are also tied for the most in the state. He scored his first goal late in the first half to tie the game at 1-1 and then came out in the second half and gave the team a lead they would not relinquish with his tally in the 50th minute. After taking a 2-1 lead, Cerritos scored three times in the span of 15 minutes, which included the third goal from Ortega, while freshmen Carlos Perez (Mayfair HS) and Kevin Diaz (Connections Academy HS) also got on the scoreboard.

Diaz also picked up a pair of assists in the win, as did sophomore Erick Gallinar (Connections Academy HS/UC Irvine), who had helpers in two of the Ortega goals. The scoring finished up in the 80th minute when freshman Amaury Maldonado (Sunny Hills HS) recorded his first goal of the season with freshman Kelvin Estrada (North Torrance HS) recording a save from his defender position.

The defense kept the Lasers away from sophomore goalkeeper Jordan Aldama (North Torrance HS), who only saw four shots and made one save. By contrast, the Falcons took 27 shots, with 12 of them on goal against Irvine Valley.