For the fifth time in school history, and fourth time in the last five seasons, the Cerritos College women's soccer team has been named the NSCAA Division III (non-scholarship) National Champions. The Falcons (23-1-1), who captured their fifth consecutive CCCAA State Championship, and seventh in school history, beat out SUNY Broome (NY) Community College for the national title. The Hornets defeated Erie Community College in the NJCAA National Championship game.

"This is a great accomplishment for our team, our program and our school," said head coach Ruben Gonzalez, who has been at the helm for each of the Falcons championships. "It's a great testament to the hard work our players and coaches put in on a daily basis. It takes a special type of person who's willing to get up early and come to practice every day and compete. They all know they're not going to get equal time on the field, so for everyone to give the same committment to the program is one of the main reasons we continue to have success."

Cerritos entered the post-season seeded #1 and went on to win five games, culminating with a 2-0 overtime win over Diablo Valley College, who was the top-seeded team from Northern California. In each of the team's last five state championship games, the Falcons have posted shutouts.

"It confirms that offense wins games and defense wins championships," added Gonzalez. "We gave up a couple of soft goals in our semifinal win (3-2) over Folsom Lake and I challenged our defenders and forwards. I told them that if you keep the other team off the board, there's no way we wouldn't win the championship. We had some of the most offensive depth we've ever had and I knew we'd eventually score."

The championship game was scoreless for the first 90 minutes, which sent it overtime, which consists of two, 15-minute periods. It took the Falcons less than seven minutes to finally get on the scoreboard when freshman Maria Hernandez (Sierra Vista HS) scored what turned out to be the championship winning goal. Last year's tournament MVP, Carolina Jaramillo (Cetis 54 HS, Tijuana) added an insurance goal in the 118th minute.

"We know that we ask a lot of our players starting in the summer and not everyone is willing to make that committment," said Gonzalez. "As a result, we tend to lose a couple of girls every year because they don't want to get up early or train as hard as we do. We're a big family and we talk about having strength in numbers. Every year, we have to fill positions due to graduation, but we had a solid group of players coming back this season, which has been rare in years part."

After winning the championship in 2015 with just five sophomores, Gonzalez and the Falcons brought in a freshman class that accounted for 35 goals, including a team-high 22 by Itzel Ballesteros (Maywood Academy HS). He knows that the process of getting players for next season starts even before the season is over. Included in that in a regular influx of bouncebacks, which have proved beneficial. This year's state championship Most Valuable Player, Dana Jacobs (Yorba Linda HS), played a limited role at San Francisco State University last year.

"Bringing in bouncebacks has been great for our program," said Gonzalez. "Granted, we only get them for one season, but we work on rebuilding their confidence and a lot of them have gone on to earn Division I scholarships after starting at a Division II school, or lower."

"All in all, the players who have come through our program have come back to tell us that their time at Cerritos was their best in soccer in their lives," continued Gonzalez. "The players who have been on previous championship teams reach out to the players on our current team and let them know that this was a great experience for them. The discipline we instill with our practice schedule and work ethic is something we hope will help them become better adults. The succes is there on the field and our goal is to help prepare them for the next level."

Winning state and national titles is something Gonzalez refers to as a "blessing". He and his staff never lose site of the effort and drive it takes to be successful.

"This program is historically as successful as it is because of the committment by the players and coaches, as well as the great support from the staff and administration," added Gonzalez. "None of this is possible without everyone working together."