During the 2018 season, the Cerritos College men's soccer team won their first United Soccer Coaches National Championship, while capturing their fourth CCCAA state championship in school history. The only blemish to their season was an opening day 2-1 loss to College of the Desert. On Friday in their 2019 season opener, the Falcons (1-0-0) exacted revenge with a dominant 2-0 non-conference win over the Roadrunners. It was their 15th straight win for Cerritos dating back to last season, which is a school record. The team will look to continue that streak at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday when they host Fullerton College.

Using an offensive attack that did not let up, Cerritos picked up their first goal of the season in the 27th minute. On the play, sophomore Bryan Villalobos (Salesian HS) was in position to chip home a ball that came off the goalpost on a header by freshman Bryan Perez (Simon Rodia HS). The Roadrunners spent the game collapsing on the Falcon players trying to work the ball on the outside edge, which opened up the middle for good shots.

If not for several deflections off Desert players deep in the 18-yard box, the score could have been much different. Perez used his speed on the edge throughout the first half and was able to center several balls for good shot attempts.

The Cerritos defense also did a solid job early in the season of thwarting off any offensive chances. Although the Roadrunners did not get off any official shots on the day, then did pressure numerous times, but were turned away by the play of sophomores Eugene Martinez (Delille Academy, Belize), Ernie Cueva (Bassett HS), Jorge Cardona (Connections Academy HS) and David Lerma (Paramount HS/Compton College) on defense.

In the 73rd minute, the Falcons added an insurance goal off a corner kick. Villalobos sent the ball to the far side, where Martinez headed the ball to the ground. Sitting near the goal line, Cueva was able to chip the ball past a diving Uriel Lopez for the goal.

On the day, Cerritos had 24 shot attempts, with five of them on goal. Freshman goalkeeper Jose Azpeitia (Valencia HS) got the start in goal, but was replaced after 20 minutes by freshman Luis Enciso (Gahr HS), who earned the win.

Photos by Daryl Peterson