It's a very rare occurrence when the Cerritos College men's soccer team loses at home. Since 2017, the Falcons have posted a 55-3-6 record on their home field, but their 3-0 non-conference loss they suffered against Norco College on Tuesday might be looked upon as their worst. The start to the season doesn't get any easier, as the Falcons travel north this weekend to compete in the Hartnell Tournament, where they will open against NorCal power Fresno City College at 2:00 p.m. on Friday.

Although the team didn't have one of their customary fast starts, they looked to get on the board first when sophomore Kevin Meza (ASU Preparatory Academy HS/Northern Illinois University) scored on a chip shot in the 13th minute. However, the Falcons were called for offside and the momentum of the game seemed to shift after that.

Norco's Christian York, who had just entered the game as a sub, headed a corner kick into the net in the 16th minute to make it a 1-0 lead for the Mustangs. The corner kick necessitated when the Falcons were unable to clear the ball out of their defensive end. The kick came from Joshia Arias and York was able to deflect the ball past Cerritos goalkeeper Steven Ruiz (Cathedral HS). Even after the goal, the Mustangs had two more chances to add to their lead the next five minutes. Norco's Efren Nunez-Dominguez hit the post after receiving a back pass from York, while York followed by hitting the crossbar on an open shot two minutes later.

Coming out of halftime trailing just 1-0, Cerritos turned up the heat and started connecting passes, which led to several good scoring chances. The Falcons recorded eight of their 10 shots in the second half, but only three of them were on goal. The wind went out of their sail in the 57th minute when the Mustangs made it a 2-0 game and then added an insurance goal in the 79th minute.

The loss to the Mustangs was the first-ever for Cerritos, who had gone 4-0-0 dating back to 2019 and had outscored them, 13-3.

Photos by Daryl Peterson