After going four games without a win (0-1-3), the Cerritos College men's soccer team recorded a much-needed 3-1 South Coast Conference victory over ECC Compton Center on Friday afternoon. The win by the Falcons improves their record to 9-3-5 overall and 4-2-4 in conference place. They entered the day in fourth place and now have four games remaining. The team has a critical game next Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. when they travel to face rival Mt. San Antonio College.

In the win over the Tartars (2-9-6, 0-6-4), the team was aggressive on offense from the outset and attacked with every given opportunity. They had a couple of solid scoring chances early on, but either lost the ball deep in the Compton territory or saw their shot turned away by goalkeeper Robert Garcia.

The Falcons finally saw their hard work pay off in the 34th minute when sophomore Mario Guerrero (University HS) lost the ball on an attack, but chased it down along the goal line. After regaining possession, he spotted freshman Diego Perez (Fremont HS) in the box and was able to turn toward the goal and get off a point blank shot that got past Garcia.

Still not satisfied with their offensive production, Cerritos jumped on the Tartars at the start of the second half and it resulted in a rebound goal for freshman Saratiel Campos (Golden Valley HS). On the play, freshman Connor Johnson (Long Beach Millikan HS) got off a header that was turned away by Garcia, while Campos was there to deliver his second goal of the season.

Compton was able to cut the Falcon lead in half when Ulises Aldaz scored from 30 yards out on a free kick in the 64th minute against sophomore goalkeeper Ivan Del Campo (Granada Hills Kennedy HS). But Cerritos regained their two-goal cushion in the 81st minute when leading scorer Christian Carrillo (Katella HS) netted his eighth goal of the year when he controlled a pass in the box and used the room provided to square his shoulders and score.