For the second year in a row, the Cerritos College women's soccer team will be playing in the CCCAA State Championship game. The Falcons (23-0-1), seeded #1, defeated Foothill College, 7-0 in the semi-final game on Friday at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento. On Sunday at 10:00 a.m., the team will face Santiago Canyon College in the state championship game for the second year in a row. Last year, Cerritos defeated the Hawks, 2-0 for their third state championship in school history.

With the weather in the low 40s, it took the Falcons a little while to get things moving. But once they warmed up, it was a powerful offensive performance against a team they defeated earlier in the season, 4-0.

On the first goal, sophomore Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) collided with Owls goalkeeper Samantha Street as both were going for a loose ball. After the impact, freshman Carolina Ornelas (Artesia HS) jumped on the loose ball and scored into an empty net 27 minutes into the game. After that goal, it seemed to loosen up Cerritos on offense, as they made it 3-0 in the next eight minutes.

Freshman Nayeli Requejo (Bishop Amat HS) made a great move along the goal line to get around Foothill defender Marisa Cavanna and found sophomore April Juarez (Bishop Amat HS/USC), who chipped the ball into the net before the ball hit the ground. Ornelas made it a 3-0 lead a little over three minutes later on a nice crossing pass from freshman Cassidy Hodson (Villa Park HS).

The Falcons controlled the ball for the greater majority of the game, and it was evident by their 20-6 shot advantage. The second half was more of the same, with Cerritos emptying their bench and received goals from sophomores Cristal Yantuche (Lakewood HS) and Demi Tavarez (Lakewood HS) accounting for the final two goals of the game. Juarez scored the fourth goal, while Lopez picked up a second-half goal and assist.

Defensively, Cerritos did a solid job of clearing away any scoring chances, with only one real test for sophomore goalkeeper Alexis Carrillo (Bishop Amat HS), who made five saves in her 68 minutes of action, Freshman Adrianna Salazar (Downey HS) came on for the final 22 minutes and made one save.