The combination of a bye in the first round and having to move their 2nd Round Southern California Regional Playoff game back a day due to wet field conditions gave the Cerritos College men's soccer team a chance to watch how the other games played out. First the Falcons (14-6-2), who were seeded #8 for the playoffs, saw #24-seeded Glendale College post an upset in the 1st Round, which matched them up as their first opponent. On Sunday, Cerritos broke a 2-2 tie with five unanswered goals and went on for a 7-2 win. Next for the Falcons will be #13-seeded Long Beach City College, who upset #1-seeded Santa Monica College, 4-2 on Saturday.

The win by the Vikings sets up a South Coast Conference rematch, with Cerritos looking for redemption from their 4-0 loss during the regular season against LBCC. The 3rd Round game is slated for 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday at Cerritos, which gives the team one less day to prepare. The Falcons will also be looking to snap a four-game winless streak (0-2-2) against Long Beach City, which includes playoff losses in the last two seasons to end the season for Cerritos.

Against the Vaqueros, who were beat 5-0 by Cerritos earlier in the season, it only took the Falcons 39 seconds to get on the board. Glendale goalkeeper Arvin Navasartian misplayed a ball that was sent his way, with sophomore Gustavo Arias (Fairmont Prep HS) in the vicinity to jump on the loose ball and score the early goal to set the tempo. Prior to the end of the first half, sophomore Julio Portillo (Central City Valeu HS/East Los Angeles College) sent what he thought would be a shot on goal. However, the ball was deflected before it reached Navasartian, with freshman William Rodriguez (San Leandro HS/Cuyamaca College) in position for an open shot at the net and gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead.

In the second half, Glendale turned up the heat and was able to tie the game with two goals in less than two minutes, with Edgar Naghdalyan picking up both goals. Each goal was a pretty set-up, with the first being on a header off a crossing pass, while the other was a one-timer that found its way past Falcons goalkeeper Eduardo Enriquez (Linda Esperanza Marquez HS).

The offensive outburst seemed to wake up Cerritos, as they tilted the field back in their favor. Freshman Andres Nieto (Parkview HS), who had just come on the field a few minutes prior, gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead when he cleaned up a rebound off a Nathan Pineda (Santa Fe HS) shot for his first goal of the season. Continuing the pressure, freshman Jason Hernandez (Bishop Mora Salesian HS) was pulled down in the 18-yard box, which resulted in a penalty kick. Arias took the shot, with Navasartian making the save. The live rebound was cleaned up by Nieto (pictured, left) in the 65th minute for his second goal of the season and a 4-2 advantage.

Cerritos added three more goals in the final six minutes, with each one more of an open look than the previous. Arias scored his second of the game when the shot by Pedro Reyes (Connections Academy HS/Cal State Fullerton) landed on his foot for an open net goal, while he completed the hat trick two minutes later when Navasartian came out of the net to play a shot by Pineda. However, he saw a wide open Arias, who scored into the open net, with Rodriguez scoring his second goal of the game right before the final whistle, with Brandon Sanchez (Long Beach Jordan HS) collecting the assist.

Photos by Samuel Chacko and Oliver Vasillis