With the end of the South Coast Conference just a week and a half away, each win by the Cerritos College men's soccer team is crucial to their seeding in the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The Falcons, who posted a 2-1 win over host East Los Angeles College on Tuesday, remain in fourth place in the SCC. But more importantly, they are still fourth in Southern California in the power ranking, which determines the seeding for the playoffs. Cerritos (10-5-3, 6-4-1) will host Long Beach City College at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, with only two more games to follow.

In their win over the Huskies (5-9-4, 3-8-0), Cerritos averted an early deficit, as a shot careened off the crossbar just one minute into the game. That seemed to put a jolt in the Falcons, who went on to outshoot East LA 9-2 in the first half and take a 1-0 lead into the break.

The Cerritos goal was one to witness, as sophomore Dominic Escobar (Roosevelt HS) started the play with a throw-in to freshman Jose Rivera (Torrance HS), who made a couple of moves around the Huskie defenders and sent a crossing pass to sophomore Carlos Escobar (Roosevelt HS). He then made a great move around the final defender and sent a shot to the far post for a goal.

The momentum taken into halftime was quickly squashed, as the Huskies tied the game in the 50th minute, scoring on freshman Benito Gonzalez (Long Beach Wilson HS). After regaining their composure, the Falcons scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 70th minute when sophomore Daniel Garcia (Artesia HS) sent a hard shot on net that was defelcted to the other side of the box, where freshman Nicholas Escalante (California HS) was there for the rebound and one-time goal.

Gonzalez came up with several outstanding saves in the final 20 minutes to preserve the win and keep the team's post-season hopes strong.

Photo by Daryl Peterson