Taking on a shorthanded Los Angeles Harbor College squad, the Cerritos College women's soccer team scored nine goals in the first half on their way to a 10-0 victory on Tuesday. The win by the Falcons, their 12th in a row, moved them closer to their 11th straight South Coast Conference championship with two games remaining in the regular season. This Thursday at 3:00 p.m. in Long Beach, Cerritos (16-1-1, 6-0-0) can clinch the South Division title when they take on the second place Vikings (8-6-5, 5-1-0) in their first of two straight games. Long Beach City needs to win both games to dethrone the champions, with the second game taking place at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday at Cerritos. The Saturday game is a rescheduled match from October 10 due to poor air quality from a local fire.

Highlighting the win over the Seahawks (2-16-1, 2-5-0), who played the entire game with just eight players, was a five-goal first half from freshman Mia Ramirez (Torrance HS). The five tallies gives her 24 on the season and moves her into second place in the state in goals, and first in Southern California. Assisting on two of those goals was sophomore Itzel Ballesteros (Maywood Academy HS), who extended her state-leading assist total to 23 on the year. Ramirez is also second in the state with 60 points.

Goals were scored in bunches for the Falcons, with the first two coming in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Ballesteros missed out on recording the opening goal after LA Harbor goalkeeper Giselle Magdaleno made saves on her first two shots, but the third came from Ramirez, who tapped the ball into the net to start the offensive outburst. A little over five minutes later, freshman Mayela Medina (Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy HS) gathered an attempted clearing pass and scored when she went in alone against Magdaleno. Ramirez picked up the next two goals six minutes apart when she stole the ball deep in Seahawks territory and scored all alone in front of the net and then received a lead pass from sophomore Brittany Reyes (Santa Fe HS/Cal State Northridge) and scored after controlling the ball from about 10 yards out.

As the game progressed, Cerritos made two-for-one substitutions, with two players coming out for one sub until the players were evenly numbered on the field. It didn't slow down the team, as Ballesteros, sophomore Yvonne Martinez (Huntington Beach HS/Dominican University), freshman Claudia Soto (Chino Hills HS), and Ramirez (twice) would score before the end of the first half.

The Falcons, who controlled the ball the entire game in LA Harbor territory, scored just once in the second half, with freshman Jessyca Gonzalez (Baldwin Park HS) picking up her first goal of the season in the 75th minute. The freshman goalkeeping duo of Deisy Rodriguez (Katella HS) and Andrea Diaz (Cerritos HS) didn't see a shot on goal for the entire game.

Photos by Daryl Peterson