With possession of the ball for over 90% of the game, the Cerritos College women's soccer team opened their 2022 season with a convincing 6-0 win over visiting Norco College on Friday. The 6-0 margin of victoryfor a season opener was the largest for a Falcon team since an 11-0 win over Oxnard College in 2017. The team will host College of the Desert at 2:00 p.m. next Tuesday.

From the beginning of the game, Cerritos was in Mustang territory and peppered goalkeeper Valerie Martinez with shot after shot. If not for the 11 saves by Martinez, with four of them from close range, the score could have been even more lopsided. The Falcons finished with 32 shots on the day.

Sophomores Victoria Adame (North Torrance HS) and Meghan Legayada (Sunny Hills HS) combined for five goals and two assists, which was one less goal than the two combined to score all of last season.

Legayada got the Falcons on the board in the eighth minute when she finished a scoring attempt from sophomore Lauren Vazquez (Mayfair HS), whose shot was turned away. A long leading pass from freshman Brianna Montano (Troy HS) sent sophomore Valerie Becerra (La Serna HS) in alone against Martinez and she collected her first goal when she lifted a shot over the keeper in the 21st minute.

Coming out of a hydration break, the Falcons scored twice to take a 4-0 lead right before halftime. Adame was the first to a loose ball near the top of the box and she sent a shot into the upper corner on the far side and then played a role in the second goal of the game for Legayada two minutes later. A corner kick from sophomore Katie Alexander (Mayfair HS/Vanguard University) got the scoring chance started, with Adame getting off a shot that was saved by Martinez. In the right spot, Legayada chipped home the rebound.

Adame made it a 5-0 game early in the second half, as she chipped home a shot after sophomore Mary Morales (Santa Ana HS) provided the perfect pass. The scoring closed out in the 58th minute, as Legayada and Adame played tic-tac-toe against the Mustang defense, leaving Legayada alone to finish off the hat trick.

The defense did not allow Norco a shot on goal, with freshman keeper Victoria Ruiz (Applied Technology Center HS) earning the win.

Photos by Daryl Peterson