Locked in a tight scoreless battle with visiting Long Beach City College on Friday, the Cerritos College women's soccer team went into halftime one shot away from taking a lead. Little did they know, their best chance came in the 23rd minute, as the Falcons suffered a 2-0 South Coast Conference loss to the Vikings (8-1-2, 2-0-0). The Falcons  (2-6-1, 0-2-0) will now host Mt. San Antonio College in another conference game at 1:45 p.m. next Tuesday. Until Daylight Saving Time, all home games will start 15 minutes earlier than in previous games.

Setting up for a direct kick in the 23rd minute, sophomore Katie Alexander (Mayfair HS/Vanguard University) got off a clean shot at the Long Beach City goal. Only thing was, her shot hit the crossbar and Cerritos spent the remainder of the game trying to connect that final pass to get another good look at scoring.

Freshman goalkeeper Victoria Ruiz (Applied Technology Center HS), who made several fantastic saves in both halves against Genesis Lopez, could not turn away the shot from Paige Rodriguez. The shot in the 57th minute was sent to the far post and it went under a diving Ruiz for the first goal of the game.

The Falcons still knew they had a chance to tie the game, but could only get one shot on goal in the second half. They were able to move the ball past midfield, but were unable to get past the Vikings defense. Long Beach added an insurance goal in the 84th minute.

Several Cerritos players turned in fine games, which included defenders Valerie Becerra (La Serna HS) and Aida Pineda (Warren HS), while Casandra Gomez (Norwalk HS), Meghan Legayada (Sunny Hills HS) and Reghan Roscoe (Montwood, TX HS) worked well with Alexander to try and get on the scoreboard.

Photos by Daryl Peterson