Feeling what head coach Benny Artiaga called a "sense of desperation", the Cerritos College men's soccer team posted a 4-1 South Coast Conference win at El Camino College on Friday. The Falcons (11-4-2, 7-2-1), who had gone 0-2-1 in their last three conference games, are looking to stay within a point of first place Mt. San Antonio College, who the team hosts in their final conference game. Cerritos will host East Los Angeles College at 3:00 p.m. next Tuesday.

"We have four games left, and have given away points we felt we should have secured, so it was extremely important for us to win today," said Artiaga. "We can't afford to give up more points and there was an uneasiness at practice since our last game on Tuesday. The guys really stepped up."

It took all of eight minutes for the Falcons to get on the scoreboard against the Warriors (5-6-6, 4-5-1), as freshman Edwin Corona (Cathedral HS) made a move on the outside and fed a pass to sophomore Thiago Lusardi (Centro Educational Ramos, Brazil HS). After receiving the ball, Lusardi made one touch and scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season.

"Once we took that early lead, the defense established themselves", added Artiaga. "We won most of the 50/50 balls, which allowed us to maintain control of the ball and the tempo of the game."

Early on the the second half, the Falcons opened their lead up to 2-0 when freshman goalkeeper Thomas Yeandle (Orange Lutheran HS) showed off his powerful leg when his clearing pass set up the goal. With Lusardi going toward the clearing pass, he drew several El Camino defenders, which cleared the way for Corona. The ball bounced over Lusardi and the Warrior defenders, with Corona following on the play, where he chipped a shot over the goalkeeper, who came out the play the bounce.

Cerritos took a commanding 3-0 lead in the 78th minute when Lusardi started a run on the outside against a pair of defenders. He sent an inswing pass toward the goal, where the keeper got a piece of the ball. It deflected to Corona, who scored his second goal of the game. After El Camino scored to ruin the shutout, Lusardi picked up his second goal of the game in the 83rd minute with freshman defender Ricardo Covarrubias (Elizabeth Learning Center HS) getting credit for the assist after he sent the ball into the box. Lusardi made a great play after receiving the ball, turned and whipped the ball into the back of the net.

Photos courtesy of Letty Amezcua