For the third time in the last six seasons, the Cerritos College women's soccer team will be playing for the state championship. They won the title in 2007 and 2008, while they reached the semi-finals in 2010. On Friday night at Mt. San Antonio College, the Falcons posted a 2-1 win over Sierra College, and they will take on Santiago Canyon College at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Back in 2007, Cerritos (20-2-2) defeated the Hawks (23-0-1), 2-1 for their first state title and need to get past them once again for their third title. In 2010, Cerritos defeated Santiago Canyon, 1-0 in overtime in the second round of the playoffs.

On Friday, freshman Claudia Ibarra (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) scored both goals for Cerritos and almost had a third, but her laser shot careened off the crossbar in the 30th minute. In the 12th minute, Ibarra sent a bending free kick toward the far side of the goal, where the ball found it's way over a pair of Wolverines (16-6-4) defenders and past goalkeeper Janell Grace for a 1-0 lead. After her crossbar goal, Ibarra received a beautiful crossing pass from sophomore Lauren Nanez (La Mirada HS) in the 48th minute after taking the ball down the sideline in a rush and scored with her heel on a one-timer.

"Sierra is a very good team and they battled us to the very end," said head coach Ruben Gonzalez. "We missed a couple of opportunities that could have put us up by another goal or two, and when they scored to get to within 2-1, I don't think we responded as well as we could have."

Just three minutes after the Ibarra goal in the 45th minute, Sierra's Miani Mahannah beat freshman goalkeeper Maria Santoyo (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) from just outside the box. Mahannah had a chance to tie the game in the 73rd minute when she found herself in front of the net, but sophomore Jennifer Mejicanos (Bellflower HS) slid in front of the shot and cleared it out of danger.

Playing without sophomore defender Chelsea Villegas (Bishop Amat HS), one of the team's most sound players in the backfield, the Falcons were able to withstand a 20-minute attack by the Wolverines at the end of the game to preserve the win.

"Playing without Chelsea - and winning - was huge for us," added Gonzalez. "We took a chance holding her out of this game to give her a couple more days to heal. Now that we're past Sierra and in the finals, we're looking to have her back in the lineup against Santiago (Canyon)."

Playing well on defense were sophomores Karina Sandoval (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) and Mejicanos, along with freshmen Alyssa Cabral (Bishop Amat HS) and Kayla Paiz (La Mirada HS)

Photo by Daryl Peterson