For the second game in a row, the Cerritos College men's soccer team showed how explosive they can be on offense. Against visiting Imperial Valley College (0-1-0) on Tuesday, the Falcons took 30 shots and came away with a 4-0 non-conference win. The victory was the second in as many games for Cerritos (2-0-0), who travel north to compete in the Hartnell Tournament this weekend. They open with the host and CCCAA state finalist Panthers at 4:00 p.m. on Friday.

Although they recorded their second consecutive shutout to open the season, head coach Benny Artiaga felt his team could have put on a better overal performance. 

"To be quite honest, I'm very disappointed in our performance," stated Artiaga. "Our guys need to compete and respect every opponent they play and treat every possession like it's our last. We created so many chances and there was no sense of urgency or any killer instinct character displayed. We are playing the state finalist next game and if we compete like this, we will be in for a rude awakening."

After a slow start, the offense started to click, with sophomore Antonio Negrete (St. John Bosco HS) accounting for the first two goals of the game. In the 15th minute, sophomore Alfredo Ortiz (Oscar De La Hoya HS/East Los Angeles College) sent in an entry pass down the left side to sophomore Pablo Caparelli (Real Salt Lake Academy, UT HS). Spotting Negrete in the box, he lofted a pass and he was able to complete the nice play by sending the ball over the head of Imperial Valley goalkeeper Dither Beltran. In fact, if not for Beltran, the Falcons could have scored at least five more goals. The keeper concluded the day with 14 saves.

Almost two minutes later, sophomore Gabriel Oropeza (Banning HS/Hope International University) worked his way deep into Imperial Valley territory and he sent a crossing pass in the box to Negrete, who picked up his second goal of the game with his one-time shot.

As much as Cerritos controlled possession of the ball in the first half, they held it even more in the second half. Even though Beltran was turning them away from close rage, freshman Kobe Chavez (North Hollywood HS) was able to make it a 3-0 lead when he received a lead pass from Bryan Saldana (Mary Star of the Sea HS) and chipped the ball past the final defender and the keeper into the net.

Looking to maintain the offensive pressure, sophomore Chris Corona (Pioneer HS) scored in the final seconds of the game, as he stole the ball, worked just inside the 18-yard box and fired a shot into the back of the net.

Falcon goalkeepers Steven Ruiz (Cathedral HS) and Juan Pablo Camacho (Norwalk HS) combined for three saves in the shutout win.

Photos by Daryl Peterson