It had been eight years since the Cerritos College women's soccer team lost to Pasadena City College. But on Tuesday, the Falcons suffered a 4-2 South Coast Conference setback, which snapped a 16-game unbeaten streak (13-0-3) against the Lancers. Cerritos (15-2-2, 10-2-1), ranked #1 in the Southern California power ranking before the loss, clinched their seventh straight SCC title, and will close out their regular season on Friday at 2:00 p.m. when they host Mt. San Antonio College. The loss dropped them to #3 in the power ranking.

In the loss to Pasadena City (11-4-5, 7-2-4), Cassandra Saavedra scored a natural hat trick to put the Falcons down 3-0 in the second half. Saavedra scored her first goal of the game against freshman goalkeeper Maria Santoyo (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) in the third minute of the game and then made it 2-0 in the 20th minute. It marked only the third time Santoyo had given up two goals in a game and just the second time the team trailed by two goals.

The deficit was 3-0 when Saavedra scored in the 60th minute before Cerritos got on the board two minutes later. Sophomore Karina Sandoval (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) sent a free kick that bounced to sophomore Lauren Nanez (La Mirada HS), who scored her 14th goal of the season with a header. The Falcons made the game interesting in the 70th minute when freshman Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) sent a header over goalkeeper Tatiana Sanchez, where sophomore Gaby Zamarripa (Artesia HS) was there to tap the ball into the net.

With sophomore Sandra Coto (Paramount HS) in goal in the second half, the Lancers picked up an insurance goal in the 78th minute when Nancy Nunez scored on a breakaway and scored from 20 yards out. Santoya made three saves, while Coto turned away five shots.

Photo by Daryl Peterson