The Cerritos College women's soccer team finished off the regular season with a 4-1 South Coast Conference win against visiting Mt. San Antonio College on Friday. The Falcons (16-2-2, 11-2-1), who clinched their seventh straight conference title, entered the day ranked #3 in the Southern California Power Rankings and will find out over the weekend where they are seeded for the upcoming Southern California Regional Playoffs, which start next Saturday.

In defeating the Mounties (12-4-5, 6-3-5), Cerritos came out with an aggressive approach in the biting cold and wind and it paid dividends in the 26th minute. Freshman Claudia Ibarra (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) was brought down in the box and awarded a penalty kick. After scoring the goal, the Falcons struck again four minutes later for a 2-0 lead.

Sophomore Lauren Nanez (La Mirada HS) worked the ball deep along the side and sent a crossing pass in the box where freshman Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) was there for a diving header to score her 10th goal of the year. After Stephanie Catone scored on a breakaway for the Mounties to make the score 2-1, Lopez picked up her second goal right before the end of the first half. Nanez worked a two-on-one and after drawing the defender, she found Lopez, who dove and headed in her second goal of the game.

Cerritos maintained possession for the majority of the second half and limited Mt. SAC to just two shots. The Falcons added an insurance goal in the 68th minute when Nanez lofted a pass into a cluster of players that were crashing the net. The ball ended up deflecting off a Mountie defender and into the net for Nanez's 15th goal of the year. Freshman goalkeeper Maria Santoyo (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) posted seven saves in collecting the win.

Photo by Daryl Peterson