In their opening game of the South Coast Conference Tournament, the Cerritos College women's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to visiting El Camino College on Friday afternoon. The Falcons (7-9-4, 6-4-0), who were riding a six-game winning streak, entered the tournament at the #4-seeded team, while the Warriors (9-6-4, 5-3-2) were seeded #5. The loss by Cerritos drops them to the fifth place game, where they will host #6-seeded Rio Hondo College at 12:30 p.m. next Tuesday.

El Camino scored the game's lone goal in the third minute and were able to hold on for the next 87 minutes to come away with the victory.

Throughout the game, the Falcons peppered Warriors goalkeeper Jordan Stemberger with shot after shot, but to no avail. In extra time of the first half, freshman Hypasha Garcia (Gahr HS) fired a shot off the crossbar, while the second half presented Cerritos with two more great scoring chances.

On a corner kick in the 77th minute, the ball was sent into a crowd of players and found sophomore Genesis Mendoza (Gahr HS). She was able to get off a deflected shot, but was turned away, while freshman Ariana Rivera (Long Beach Millikan HS) had the best chance in the 83rd minute. Going in all alone, she was stoned by Stemberger, which was her second high-percentage scoring chance of the day. Rivera, who finished with six shots on goal, saw Stemberger kick away her shot attempt in the 16th minute.

Photos by Daryl Peterson