In their last two playoff wins, the Cerritos College women's soccer team has scored their game-winning goals off corner kicks. In the second round this past Tuesday, freshman Jamie Peters (Bishop Amat HS) headed home a corner kick to cap off a 3-2 double overtime win over San Bernardino Valley College. On Saturday, in their third round game against visiting Santiago Canyon College, freshman Amber Whitmore (Los Alamitos HS) headed home a Carolina Jaramillo (Cetis 58, Tijuana HS) corner kick in the 81st minute, which turned out to be the games's lone goal.

The victory over the Hawks sends the Falcons (21-0-3) back to the CCCAA State Championships, where they have won the last three titles and five championships in the last eight seasons. In four of their five championships, including the last three, Cerritos has shut out Santiago Canyon in the title game. The Hawks now haven't scored a goal against the Falcons since the 2007 state championship game, where Cerritos scored twice in the final three minutes to capture the first championship in school history.

The Falcons will play in the state semifinal game at De Anza College in Cupertino at 10:00 a.m. on Friday. They are the #2-seeded team from Southern California and will take on the #1-seeded team from Northern California, Fresno City College. The Falcons and Rams played to a 2-2 tie in the first game of the season at Las Positas College.

Cerritos is also looking to become just the second school in CCCAA women's soccer history to win four straight championships. Long Beach City College won four in a row from 2000-03.

"It's taken most of the season, but this team is really starting to play well together," said head coach Ruben Gonzalez, who has been at the helm for each of the team's titles. "We have had an extremely difficult road to the state tournament and have played some very, very good teams. These games have really helped us to become a better unit and the players have now seen what it takes to win in the playoffs. We're a very young team and they've done a good job handling the pressure."

The game against the Hawks (18-3-2) was a tale of two different halves. Cerritos controlled the tempo in the first 45 minutes and did not allow Santiago Canyon to attempt a shot. The Falcons missed an early scoring chance, as Jaramillo stole the ball and got off a clean shot that hit off the crossbar in the sixth minute. Later in the first half, freshman Natalie deLeon (St. Joseph HS) sent a crossing pass to Peters, but it was cleared out at the last second by the Hawks Danielle Snook.

But most of the second half belonged to Santiago Canyon, and they had several great looks at the net. In the 64th minute, leading scorer Brooke Mays lined a clean shot on net, but freshman goalkeeper Ruby Nichols (Bishop Amat HS) was right there for the save. Mays was able to get a shot on the rebound, but sent it wide. Just 12 minutes later, Kylie Klein looked to break the scoreless tie when she fired an angled shot that Nichols made a diving save to stop.

"When I saw her getting ready for the shot, I just tried to cut off the angle and read her body language," said Nichols. "I saw that she was leaning to her left, so I anticipated that was the direction she was looking to shoot. I made my move and was fortunate to get there in time to make the save."

It was a different story on Whitmore's goal. She set up at the back post and readied herself for Jaramillo's corner kick. With nobody at the front post, Jaramillo was able to get enough on her kick and Whitmore read the ball perfectly, as she headed it past Hawks goalkeeper Casey Pulido for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

"I always have an idea where Caro is going to send the ball," said Whitmore. "Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time. It was a realy physical game, but I think our conditioning plays to our advantage in the second half of games. We seem to have an extra bit of energy and are able to play hard the whole time. It's really helped up in the playoffs and hope it will continue next weekend."

The team's conditioning came into play with the offensive attacks of the Hawks. But the Falcons received superb play in the back from from the likes of sophomores Malia Tilton (El Modena HS) and Victoria Hernandez (Warren HS/UC Irvine), as well as freshmen Jackie Garcia (Paramount HS), Laura Aquije (Warren HS) and Adriana Velasquez (Long Beach Jordan HS). Freshman Leslie Walker (Long Beach Poly HS) and did an excellent job of marking Mays and also made herself a scoring threat.

"Malia is a third-year sophomore, and she's extremely composed," said Gonzalez. "She's a real steady player and doesn't let anything shake her. Malia has done an exceptional job with her leadership on the field."

Photos by Daryl Peterson