There was a brief period recently during the season where the Cerritos College women's soccer team struggled to score goals. After putting seven goals in the back of the net last Friday against Los Angeles Harbor College, the Falcons scored 11 times in their 11-1 South Coast Conference win over ECC Compton Center on Tuesday afternoon. The win improves their season record to 12-1-2, while they are 7-1-1 in the SCC with five games remaining. They will play their third straight game at home on Friday at 2:00 p.m. when they face El Camino College.
Leading the way for Cerritos in their convincing win was freshman Claudia Ibarra (Universidad de Guadalajara HS), who scored four first half goals, including a natural hat trick in the span of two minutes, as the team led 6-0 at intermission. Sophomore Lauren Nanez (La Mirada HS) accounted for a pair of goals and three assists, while freshman Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) finished the day with a pair of goals and assists.
Ibarra scored her first goal of the game when she stole the ball from Compton's Ivonne Amaya and scored against goalkeeper Jillanita Orozco, who did turn in 10 saves for the game. Her three goals came at the end of the first half, with her second of the game coming in the 41st minute when she chipped a shot over Amaya after receiving a pass from sophomore Julissa Castaneda (San Pedro HS). Just :56 seconds later, Nanez stole a pass and fed Ibarra for her third of the day, with her fourth a mere 1:04 later after sophomore Gaby Zamarripa (Artesia HS) dribbled past the defense to an open Ibarra.
Castaneda added a goal and assist for the Falcons, while sophomore Leah Wilkins (Gahr HS) picked up her second goal in as many games, as she stole the ball in the box after a corner kick and scored in the 84th minute. Freshman Jasmine Cornejo (Artesia HS) scored the final goal for Cerritos in the 86th minute, while Lopez collected a goal in the first half and added a header goal in the second half.
Freshman goalkeeper Maria Santoyo (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) posted one save in her 45 minutes of action, while sophomore Sandra Coto (Paramount HS) surrendered the lone goal against when Elizabeth Ramos saw her free kick bounce over Coto's head in the 88th minute.
Photo by Daryl Peterson