Every time the Cerritos College and Mt. San Antonio College men's soccer teams meet up, there's always extra energy displayed from all involved. The Falcons (2-5-2, 2-0-1), who defeated the Mounties (6-2-2, 1-0-2) in the CCCAA State Championship game last season, had won their first two South Coast Conference games after going winless in their pre-season. On Tuesday, Mt. SAC was able to open the scoring, while Cerritos drew even right before halftime. Despite several missed chances late in the game, the contest would end in a 1-1 draw.

Even with talented goalies in net, they always welcome some extra assistance from the goalpost, which had as many saves as each of the keepers on the day.

In the 12th minute, the Falcons Mark Cruz (El Toro HS) went in on a breakaway and saw his shot careen off the crossbar, while Juan Orozco (Sierra HS) saw his shot in the 55th minute hit the post off his attempt directly in front of Mounties goalkeeper Andy Gutierrez. Cerritos had another scoring chance in the 66th minute when Austin DeMedeiros (Gahr HS) sent a crossing pass to Christian Carrillo (Katella HS), but his header into an open corner was headed away in the final second by Mountie Juan Sanchez.

For Mt. SAC, their missed chances were just wide of the goal, which came in the 17th minute when Michael Flores chipped the ball just over the leaping Jaime Sanchez (Aspire Pacific Academy HS) in goal. Attacking in a 3-on-1 situation, the Mounties miscommunicated with each other and their final pass went wide, while Danny Moreno was alone in front and sent his line drive over the goal.

It was 1-0 Mt. San Antonio in the 22nd minute when Moreno sent a direct kick that was slightly misdirected and found its way into the lower left corner of the net. Just minutes before the end of the first half, Cerritos tied the game off a corner kick by Cruz that was headed in by DeMedeiros.

The final 10 minutes of the game was a Mt. SAC frenzy of attacks which the Falcons withstood. They were able to clear the ball out of danger and even had two great chances on transition plays in the final two minutes. Carrillo, Cruz and Michael Licon (Fullerton HS) had a little tic-tac-toe passing game going on as they drove toward the net. But their shot was turned away by Gutierrez, who came out to attack the play. Cruz went up for a header in front the net on another scoring chance, but the ball was deflected away.

On the day, Sanchez posted four saves, while Gutierrez had three saves. The Falcons will travel to Pasadena City College on Friday for a 3:00 p.m. conference match.

Photos by Daryl Peterson