In a game wrought with tension that was the equivalent of a post-season match, the Cerritos College men's soccer team was able to come back from a one-goal deficit three times in the first half and ended up playing a 3-3 tie with visiting Taft College in a non-conference game on Tuesday. The Falcons (4-1-2), who fought back each time the Cougars (5-0-1) scored, tallied their final goal with only 10 players on the field, as sophomore midfielder Oscar Enriquez (Cabrillo HS) was shown a red card late in the first half. Enriquez will miss the South Coast Conference opener next Tuesday when the Falcons host Los Angeles Harbor College.

Down 3-2, Cerritos pressured the Taft goal to the point that a hand ball was called and freshman Nicholas Escalante (California HS) scored off a pass from freshman Jeffrey Payeras (Animo HS) from inside the box with less than :10 seconds remaining in the first half. The Falcons went on to play the remainder of the game a man down until Taft's Trevon Demison collected his second yellow card with 13:10 remaining in the game to even the numbers.

The Cougars, ranked #12 in the country by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA) took a 1-0 lead just 8:49 into the game, as Trevor Leonard beat freshman goalkeeper Brett Hughes (Long Beach Millikan HS) to a loose ball and scored into an empty net to start the six-goal first half. But just 1:09 later, freshman Jose Rivera (Torrance HS) headed home a crossing pass from freshman Mario Guerrero (University HS) to knot the game.

Midway through the half, Ramiro Barraza found himself all along behind the Falcon defense and facing Huighes, where he sent a low shot into the back of the net for a 2-1 Cougar advantage. Even though he surrendered three goals, Hughes came up big late in the second half, making a pair of point-blank saves to preserve the tie. The game became a 2-2 contest when sophomore Gerardo Soto(Salesian HS) had his pass deflect off a Taft player and into the net past goalkeeper Roberto Gonzalez. Barraza scored his second goal of the game when he apparently caught Hughes off guard and scored into a virtually empty net.

In the second half, Cerritos did have a chance to take the lead when freshman Thiago Lusardi (Centro Educational Ramos, Brazil HS) raced down the right side of the field unmarked. But when he tried to send a crossing pass to Escalante, the Cougars were there to break up the play.