It was a tale of two entirely different halves for the Cerritos College men's soccer team in their South Coast Conference match against visiting Long Beach City College. Looking to make an impact in their quest to knock off the top-ranked team in the state, the Vikings took an early 1-0 lead and had the Falcons looking a litle frazzled. But after an emotional argument by head coach Benny Artiaga resulted in him receiving a pair of yellow cards, which equated to a red card and exclusion from the remainder of the game, the top-ranked Falcons seemed to feed off his emotions and scored a goal in extra time of the first half and went on to post a 5-1 victory.

Dealing with the physicality of Long Beach City, Cerritos (10-0-2) received a golden chance to tie the score before halftime when Antonio Negrete (St. John Bosco HS) was tackled inside the 18-yard box by William Blanco, resulting in a penalty kick in extra time. Sophomore Uriel Sanchez (Servite HS) stepped up and fired a shot that bounced past Vikings goalkeeper Ryan Swan, who got a piece of the shot to send the game into halftime tied, 1-1.

"Today was our worst start to a game all season," said Artiaga, who will have to sit out the team's next game. "We came out with very little energy and emotion. We were a little worried it could be a trap game. That's where my emotions took over, but hey, sometimes you gotta sacrifice to get some kind of reaction. Looks like we responded well."

The goal turned out to be the spark the Falcons needed, as they scored four times in the second half to pull away. The game was also peppered by cards, as 10 were issued.

While the defense was limiting Long Beach City to just one second half shot on goal, the offense was hitting their stride as the game carried on into the later minutes. In the 68th minute, Blanco was called for his second yellow card of the game, which disqualified him from the rest of the game and left Long Beach City with just 10 players.

Sophomore Gabriel Oropeza (Banning HS/Hope International University) stepped up to take a direct kick from 25 yards out and fired a shot that hit Swan's hands, but the power of the shot allowed it to continue into the net. That goal loosened everything up for both teams, but in a bad way for the Vikings. As the Cerritos offense settled into their play on offense, Long Beach City was left without any kind of offensive approach and spent the rest of the game trying keep the Falcons from adding to their total.

Less than three minutes after the Oropeza goal, freshman Jason Alvarez (Norwalk HS) cleaned up a loose ball in the box and got a pass off to freshman Julian Vazquez (Salesian HS), who scored into an open net. The offense continued to excel, as Sanchez worked a nice give-and-go with sophomore Pablo Caparelli (Real Salt Lake Academy, UT HS), who chipped in his team-leading seventh goal in the 79th minute and a 4-1 advantage.

Playing in extra time of the second half, the Falcons picked up another goal when freshman Andrew Valencia (Salesian HS) grabbed the ball after a defensive turnover and found sophomore Christian Perez (Paramount HS), who had a wide open net to cap off the scoring.

In goal, the tandem of Steven Ruiz (Cathedral HS) and Juan Pablo Camacho (Norwalk HS) continued to work well. The two combined to make three saves in the game.

Cerritos will host rival Mt. San Antonio at 4:00 p.m. next Tuesday in their next game.

Photos by Daryl Peterson