When this week's United Soccer Coaches national ranking came out this week, the Cerritos College men's soccer team was ranked #2 for the second week in a row. Moving up the ranking was #7 El Camino College, their opponent for Tuesday's South Coast Conference opener. The Falcons, who saw their season come to an end in the playoffs last season at the hands of the Warriors, responded with a statement win, as they posted a 4-1 victory. Cerritos remains unbeaten at 9-0-2, while the Warriors slipped to 8-2-0.

Entering the game, the Warriors had allowed just five goals all season, with three coming in a season-opening loss to Santa Monica, while Cerritos had surrendered a meager three goals coming in. The Falcons have now scored four or more goals in seven of their 11 games this season.

The Falcons started peppering El Camino goalie Donovan Palomare with shots from the outset, but were turned away time and again. However, on their 10th shot attempt in the 36th minute found the back of the net, as sophomore defender Jaret Rocha (Paramount HS) laced a free kick from 25 yards out to get the team on the board.

Not satisfied with a 1-0 lead, sophomore Pablo Caparelli (Real Salt Lake Academy, UT HS) fed a nice pass to the hot foot of sophomore Antonio Negrete (St. John Bosco HS), who scored his sixth goals of the season on a shot to the far right post. In the last three games, Negrete has four goals and an assist.

Eight minutes later in the second half, freshman goalkeeper Steven Ruiz (Cathedral HS) turned away a penalty kick from one of the leading scorers in the state, Mario Carlos in the 65th minute. A rebound off the save landed back on the foot of Carlos, who cut the team's lead in half.

That goal seemed to aggravate the Falcons, who were prepared for a more aggressive attack from the Warriors. Undeterred, Cerritos scored twice in less than three minutes to put the game out of reach. The team's third goal came on a penalty kick by sophomore Uriel Sanchez (Servite HS) in the 72nd minute, while Negrete fed freshman Julian Vazquez (Salesian HS) in the 75th minute and he drove home a one-timer for his second tally of the season.

By the end of the game, the Falcons had outshot El Camino, 21-10, while also receiving stellar goalkeeping from Ruiz in the first half and freshman Juan Pablo Camacho (Norwalk HS) in the second half. The two combined for four saves.

Cerritos will host Long Beach City on Friday at 4:00 p.m. in a conference game.