Competing in their first playoff game that went to penalty kicks, the Cerritos College men's soccer team pulled out a 2-1 win over visiting Santiago Canyon College on Wednesday to advance to the 3rd Round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The #4-seeded Falcons (14-4-5) will now travel to #1-seeded Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., with the winner advancing to the CCCAA State Tournament. Last year, the Mounties eliminated Cerritos on their home field in the same round of the post-season.

Cerritos had faced the Mounties twice this season in South Coast Conference play, which included a 2-0 loss in their final regular season game 15 days ago.

When the game appeared to be heading into penalty kicks, Cerritos head coach Benny Artiaga replaced starting goalkeeper Thomas Yeandle (Orange Lutheran HS) with sophomore Benito Gonzalez (Long Beach Wilson HS). The move payed off, as Gonzalez made a huge save on the Hawks Francisco Varela in the fourth round with the Falcons leading, 2-1. Sophomore Thiago Lusardi (Centro Educational Ramos, Brazil HS), who scored the team's lone goal in the first half, secured the victory with his successful penalty kick goal against Shion Jahangiri.

"Benito is a great PK stopper," said an excited Artiaga. "When he lost his starting position to Thomas about a month or so ago, I told him that he would still make a key contribution to this team, so keep your head in every game. He came through for us today."

Gonzalez, who hadn't played since October 29, came on in the second overtime period with about two minutes left when the game looked to be going to penalty kicks. After the first attempt by Roberto Escudero sailed over the net and the second from Ivan Azpeitia hit the left goalpost, Carlos Moreno got Santiago Canyon on the board in the third round. For the Falcons, freshman Edward Robles (Annenberg HS) had his shot saved, followed by successful goals from freshman Jesus Maciel (Coronado, NV HS) and freshman Ricardo Covarrubias (Elizabeth Learning Center HS).

With the Falcons leading in the penalty kick scoring, 2-1, Gonzalez came up with a huge save on the kick from Varela, which set the table for Thiago.

"Benito came through for us and put me in a good position," said Lusardi. "He's been a great teammate and has helped me with my approach on PKs because he always stops mine in practice. His huge save gave me a chance to relax and finish what we started as a team."

Said Gonzalez, "I wanted this so bad. I thrive on these types of situations and was glad to be able to step up when called upon. When they were setting their ball for the PK, I would just talk to them and try and get in their heads. Everyone did their job today and we're looking forward to another chance to play."

In an extremely physical game, the Falcons finally broke through when Lusardi was able to get a good look at the goal. He was able to get off a hard, clean shot, but it was deflected by a pair of Hawks players. Only thing was, after the ball hit both Andrew Sanders and Mitch Bell, it careened into the corner of the net for a goal. The Hawks received a penalty kick in the 67th minute and Moreno converted for the tying goal.

Both teams had great chances to score in the defensive-minded game. For the Falcons, Robles saw his point-blank shot turned away in the 29th minute, while Lusardi hit the goal post in the 63rd minute and freshman Cristian Zuniga (Paramount HS) had his line drive shot sail just over the crossbar. Sophomore Gustavo Reyes (Long Beach Wilson HS) prevented a goal in the 32nd minute when he was protecting the corner of the net and cleared away a shot from Azpetitia, who also hit the crossbar in the 18th minute and had a goal negated in the 79th minute on an offside call. Chris Adriano had an open look a vacated net in the 81st minute, but missed on his shot attempt.

Photos by Daryl Peterson