With a National Championship defense hanging on their backs, the Cerritos College women's soccer team gave an early indication that they are prepared to take on all comers. The Falcons, who were crowned the 2012 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Division II (non-scholarship) champions, opened the new season by defeating St. Louis (MO) CC, 6-1 on Friday at Eastern Florida State College. St. Louis, who opened the season ranked #15 in the country in the NSCAA Division I (scholarship) pre-season poll, were no match for the faster Falcons, who played with fresher legs. St. Louis recorded a 1-1 double-overtime tie against Eastern Florida State College the day before and showed the signs of wearing out quickly. Cerritos will take on EFSU on Sunday at 10:00 a.m., while the Titans were last year's Division I runner up and are ranked #2 in the country.

Getting the Falcons started against St. Louis was sophomore Claudia Lopez (Downey HS), who scored a natural hat trick just 20 minutes into the game for a quick 3-0 lead. Cerritos put constant pressure on the St. Louis defense, who struggled dealing with the overall team speed and precision passing that allowed the Falcons to open up a quick lead and held a 5-0 lead at intermission.

"We wanted to be aggressive going into the game because we felt St. Louis might be a little tired after playing a double-overtime game the day before," said head coach Ruben Gonzalez. "Claudia played with a lot of confidence today and it showed in the way she handled the ball and controlled her play. She has a great support group and with someone like April Juarez (Bishop Amat HS) to help spread the offense, and they should prove to work well together. We have a lot to work on, but this was a great start."

Lopez got the Falcons on the board in the seventh minute, as she beat goalkeeper Apolonia Thomas with a low kick into the corner of the net. Thomas, who was spectacular in the game against Eastern Florida State, surrendered five first half goals and was pulled in the second half. Freshman Cassidy Hodson (Villa Park HS), who assisted on the second and third Lopez goals, made it a 4-0 lead with a well-placed header in the 27th minute for a three-point game. Joining in on the scoring was freshman Carolina Ornelas (Artesia HS) and Juarez, who played last season at USC.

The goalkeeping duo of sophomore Alexis Carrillo (Bishop Amat HS) and Adrianna Salazar (Downey HS) combined to make five saves, with Salazar accounting for four of them, while she allowed a St. Louis goal with 15:41 left in the game.