Hoping to avoid the early exit they experienced last year, the Cerritos College women's soccer team scored three goals in each half to eliminate Santa Barbara City College, 6-0 on Saturday. The Falcons (17-2-2), seeded #3 for the Southern California Regional Playoffs, will host either Cypress College or Mt. San Antonio College at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The shutout was the eighth of the season by Cerritos.

From the start of the match the Falcons were the aggressor and put pressure on the Vaquero (11-4-4) defense by using their crisp passing and overall team speed. In the ninth minute of the game, sophomore Karina Sandoval (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) fed a pass to sophomore Lauren Nanez (La Mirada HS), who lofted a shot over SBCC goalkeeper Brianna Robinson for her 16th goal of the season. Santa Barbara had a solid chance at tying the game in the 12th minute, but freshman goalkeeper Maria Santoyo (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) came up with a big save on a deflected shot by Courtney Allard.

Not long after that save, the Falcons scored twice in 10 minutes to take a commanding 3-0 lead. In the 22nd minute, Sandoval drilled a hard line drive just under the crossbar on an indirect free kick. On the play, freshman Jazmin Aguas (San Pasqual HS) grazed the ball to put it in play, and Sandoval finished the play by scoring her seventh goal of the year. Sophomore Kayla Paiz (La Mirada HS) made it 3-0 in the 32nd minute when she handled a pass in the box from freshman Claudia Ibarra (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) and chipped the ball past Robinson for her second goal of the year.

The second half was more domination from the Falcons, and they scored in the 50th minute on a goal by Ibarra after a pair of spot-on passes. Sophomore Jennifer Mejicanos (Bellflower HS) started the play at midfield and led freshman Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) deep into Vaquero territory, where she quickly found Ibarra for the hard shot and goal. Sandoval scored her second goal of the game in the 73rd minute when her shot from the sideline was mishandled by Robinson and slipped into the corner of the net. The scoring concluded in the 75th minute on a goal that Lopez drilled from right in front of the goal, with Nanez earning the assist.

On the day, Santoyo made five saves in her 70 minutes of play, with sophomore Sandra Coto (Paramount HS) turning away two shots in the final 20 minutes. One of the saves by Coto was on Santa Barbara leading scorer Brandie Harris. Robinson ended the game with six saves.

Photo by Daryl Peterson