Facing an El Camino College team that was riding the high of defeating defending state champion Mt. San Antonio College last week, the Cerritos College men's soccer team turned in a hard-fought 3-0 home win on Tuesday. The Falcons (7-2-1, 3-0-0) remain in first place in the South Coast Conference with their fifth victory in the last six games. The team will now travel to East Los Angeles College on Friday for a 6:00 p.m. match.

Both the Falcons and Warriors (2-3-5, 1-2-0) played a physical contest from beginning to end and in the final 10 minutes of the game, Cerritos was able to score twice after wearing down their opponent. With a 1-0 lead holding up since a goal from sophomore Gustavo Reyes (Long Beach Wilson HS) in the 31st minute, the Falcons were able to get the best of the El Camino defense and scored twice on Christopher Mellone.

Pushing the ball up the field, freshman Edwin Corona (Cathedral HS) drilled a hard shot that deflected off the cross bar. Fortunately, sophomore Thiago Lusardi (Centro Educational Ramos HS, Brazil) was stationed in front of the net and the ball landed on his foot. He was able to chip the ball in for his ninth goal of the season and a 2-0 Cerritos lead. Forced to loosen up their defense in hopes of getting more scoring chances, it left a pocket of the field open for sophomore Jose Espinoza (Salesian HS), who dribbled through several players. He attempted a shot that was blocked by a field player, but Ramirez was able to maintain possession of the ball and scored a goal into the upper corner for an insurance goal.

The Cerritos defense played a solid all-around game, with the help of freshman goalkeeper Thomas Yeandle (Orange Lutheran HS), who recorded two saves. But it was his first half stop off a Shaun Nagano shot that kept the game scoreless. The quartet of Reyes, Ricardo Villegas (Paramount HS), Ricardo Covarrubias (Elizabeth Learning Center HS), and Christian Hernandez (John Glenn HS) fought off every El Camino offensive attack and helped clear the ball out of danger.

Photos by Daryl Peterson