For the fifth year in a row, the Cerritos College women's soccer team has advanced to the CCCAA State Championship game. The Falcons (22-1-1) posted a 3-2 win over Folsom Lake College (17-4-4) and are one win away from their fifth consecutive state title and seventh in school history. The state championship game will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday at the Ventura Sports Complex. Cerritos will face the winner of the other semifinal game, either Santa Barbara City College or Diablo Valley College.
The post-season win was the 24th in a row by Cerritos (23-0-1) and are one win away from setting a new state record for most consecutive championships (5). They currently hold the mark along with Long Beach City College, who won four in a row from 2000-03.
The Falcons got the scoring started early, as sophomore Carolina Jaramillo (Cetis 54, Tijuana HS) was fouled in the box by Folsom Lake's Natalie Fischer, setting up a penalty kick. Jaramillo converted the kick for an early lead, although Jaramillo wasn't done putting her name on the score sheet.
Cerritos continuing their defensive pressure, as sophomore defender Yaqualin Garcia (Paramount HS) stole the ball in Folsom territory and got he ball to sophomore Jill Messersmith (Newport Beach HS). The play continued when Messersmith moved the ball inside and spotted Jaramillo, who chipped the ball into the upper corner for a 2-0 lead the team took into halftime.
Even with the lead, the Falcons had moments where they had difficulty maintaining the ball and after freshman Itzel Ballesteros (Maywood Academy HS) saw her shot hit the crossbar, Folsom turned the game into a battle when Allie Miller scored for Folsom Lake in the 75th minute. Looking to regain momentum, sophomore Natalie de Leon (St. Joseph HS) gave Cerritos a 3-1 lead in the 83rd minute when she was able to chest trap the ball, volley and score under the crossbar. That goal came after de Leon saw her her header in the 79th minute stopped on a diving save by Aubrey Hall.
Folsom wasn't done, as they scored in stoppage time on a goal by Karina Torres, who rolled a shot past a diving Ruby Nichols (Bishop Amat HS).
On the day, the Falcons outshot Folson Lake, 16-5. Defensively, Cerritos played a strong game for the first 75 minutes where they cleard away any chances and were led by Garcia, Dana Jacobs (Yorba Linda HS/San Francisco State University), Jackie Jaquez (Marshall HS) and Amber Whitmore (Los Alamitos HS).