In their South Coast Conference opener on Tuesday, the Cerritos College women's soccer team posted a 1-0 win over Long Beach City College. The Falcons (6-0-2, 1-0-0), ranked #2 in the latest NSCAA national ranking, scored the game's lone goal in the 60th minute and then held on for the win. The team will travel to Los Angeles Harbor College on Friday for a 4:00 p.m. conference game.

After few missed scoring chances in the first half, Cerritos finally put one into the net when freshman Natalie deLeon (St. Joseph HS) scored her team-leading seventh of the season. On the play, sophomore Victoria Hernandez (Warren HS/UC Irvine) gained control of a loose ball in Vikings (3-3-1, 0-1-0) territory and sent a pass into the box. deLeon faced LBCC goalkeeper Evelyn Fierros (11 saves) one-on-one and put the ball past her for what turned out to be the lone tally.

Early on in the game, Cerritos had a couple of good scoring chances, but could not finish. Freshman Jamie Peters (Bishop Amat HS) couldn't get off a good shot after Fierros lost control of the ball in front of the net in the third minute, while freshman Amber Whitmore (Los Alamitos HS) saw her open shot sail over the net in the 50th minute.

Throughout the first half and into the second half, the Falcons were able to maintain control of the ball as they attacked the Long Beach City goal. But they were unable to connect on that final pass, which saw their scoring chances fall by the wayside.

Freshman goalkeeper Ruby Nichols (Bishop Amat HS) wasn't tested until the second half, when she saved a hard shot from about 10 yards away from Joanne Perone. Niki Voulgaris also saw her shot get through the defense, only to see Nichols make the save.

The main reason LBCC had difficulty getting deep into Falcon territory was because of the play from sophomore defender Malia Tilton (El Modena HS). After missing last season with an injury, Tilton has progressively gotten better as the season has worn on, and repeatedly shut down the final Vikings offensive player, while also maneuvering the ball out of danger and sending Cerritos on an offensive push.

Photos by Daryl Peterson