Looking to avenge one of their losses from earlier in the season, the Cerritos College men's soccer team eliminated Norco College, 2-0 in the Southern California Regional Playoffs. The win sends the #4-seeded Falcons (15-2-5) to the 4th Round of the playoffs, where they will travel to take on #1-seeded Long Beach City College at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. The winner advances to the 3C2A State Championships. This will also be the third meeting of the year against the Vikings, with the previous two ending in ties. Back on August 27, Norco handed the Falcons a 1-0 setback.

Midway through the first half, freshman Allan Gonzalez (Lakewood HS) was tackled in the 18-yard box by the Mustangs (15-3-5) Rodrick Promis and the Falcons were awarded a penalty kick. Sophomore Donovan Perez (South East HS), who had converted his previous four attempts during the season, saw his low liner hit off the left crossbar, which kept the game scoreless.

Before the end of the first half, Cerritos would get on the board, as sophomore Erick Velasco (Norwalk HS) was able to get up and over everyone else and headed a corner kick into the net. Freshman Cesar Solarzano Garcia (California Pacific Charter HS) lofted the perfect corner kick, with Velasco in the right spot to score his eighth goal of the season.

Throughout the game, the Falcons maintained possession of the ball, which has been their strength for nearly 20 years. They kept the #5-seeded Mustangs off-balance all game long and pressured their defense over and over again. It could easily have been a 4-0 lead by intermission if not for the missed penalty kick and Norco goalkeeper Adan Zamora turning away sophomore Jose Lopez (MY Academy HS) twice on high-percentage shots.

Maintaining their pressure in the second half, the Falcons picked up their second goal on a mishap my Zamora. Looking to pick up the ball and clear it away, Gonzalez was able to chip the ball away from Zamora and feed sophomore Pedro Reyes (Connections Academy HS/Cal State Fullerton), who scored into an open portion of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

By the end of the match, the Falcons had outshot the Mustangs, 19-4, with all four of their shots coming in the first half.

Photos by Daryl Peterson