For the second year in a row, and third time in the last five seasons, the Cerritos College men's soccer team saw their season come to an end with an overtime loss to rival Mt. San Antonio College. Last season, the Mounties ended the Falcons season in a 3rd Round Southern California Regional Playoff game at Cerritos, and on Saturday, it was a 2-1 overtime win by Mt. SAC that finished off the year. The Falcons (14-6-4), who finished in second place in the South Coast Conference behind Mt. San Antonio, dropped all three games this season to the Mounties and haven't beaten them since their 2008 state championship year. That season, Cerritos went 4-0 against Mt. SAC, but are now 1-10-2 in the last five years.

With the game tied and heading into overtime, the Mounties scored their eventual game-winning goal in a controversial way. After a foul was called on Cerritos outside the 18-yard box, Mt. SAC put the ball down and looked for a quick restart. The play didn't work out as originally intended and the Falcons intercepted the ball. However, the referee allowed Mt. San Antonio another opportunity to play the ball, and Armando Ochoa buried a shot into the back of the net past freshman goalkeeper Thomas Yeandle (Orange Lutheran HS).

Trailing 1-0 in the second half, Cerritos was able to tie the game on a penalty kick when sophomore Gustavo Reyes (Long Beach Wilson HS) was taken down in the back. Freshman Ricardo Covarrubias (Elizabeth Learning Center HS) was called upon for the penalty kick, and he scored to tie the game. Mt. SAC took their 1-0 lead in the first half on a beautiful individual performance off a corner kick.

Photos courtesy of Letty Amezcua