In a heated South Coast Conference match on Tuesday afternoon, the Cerritos College men's soccer team played to a 0-0 draw with ECC Compton Center. The Falcons (7-1-2, 2-0-1) will now host Mt. San Antonio College in a critical South Coast Conference match at 4:00 p.m. in another chapter of their rivalry. The Mounties (5-1-3, 1-1-0) have eliminated Cerritos from the playoffs two years in a row and three times in the last five seasons, while the two have battled for the conference title over the last seven years.

On Tuesday against the Tartars (2-3-5, 0-0-3), the two teams spent 90 minutes trying to penetrate each other's defense, while each squad had chances late in the game to get on the board. For Compton, Adrian Guzman saw his header off a crossing pass hit the crossbar, while Falcon sophomore Ricardo Covarrubias (Elizabeth Learning Center HS) watched his long free kick get deflected and just miss going inside the near post three minutes later.

Cerritos had a 10-minute block of time where they worked the ball deep into the Tartar zone, with freshman Steve Martinez (Salesian HS) just missing the net on a solid look, while freshman Omar Rincon (Columbus HS) came on and immediately had his clean look knocked wide by Compton goalkeeper Eduardo Plaza.

On the day, the Falcons had eight shots on goal turned away, while freshman Ivan Del Campo (Granada Hills Kennedy HS) turned away four shots in earning the shutout.

Photos by Daryl Peterson