After the first eight minutes of their South Coast Conference game, the Cerritos College men's soccer team had scored a goal on a corner kick and allowed one to visiting Long Beach City College. But the Falcons were able to score twice more in the first half and two more times in less than two minutes in the second half to record a 5-2 win over the Vikings. The sixth win in a row by Cerritos moves their record to 16-1-1 overall and 10-1-0 in the SCC, while LBCC dropped to 6-6-5 and 3-4-3. The Falcons will now travel to Mt. San Antonio College on Friday for a 6:00 p.m. showdown to determine who wins the conference title. Mt. SAC, ranked #1 in the country by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA) for Division II (non-scholarship schools) is in second place at 9-0-2 in the SCC, while the first place Falcons are ranked #3 by the same association.

"I thought we played really well today against a team that would have been very content with earning a tie and getting a point in the standings," said Falcon head coach Benny Artiaga. "We saw a couple of world-class goals today and once we took the lead, the game opened up a little bit more. Next up is going to be another big game for us, but we're accustomed to playing big games. I believe we are playing very well and the guys are ready for the challenge."

Cerritos opened the scoring in the fifth minute when sophomore Jaime Cano (Animo HS) sent a beautiful corner kick to freshman Daniel Garcia (Artesia HS), who headed the ball in for his team-leading 14th goal of the season. However, the lead didn't last very long, as the Vikings countered with a goal off a header from Jessie Aguirre into the lower corner of the net.

The tie didn't last very long, with the Falcons taking the lead for good in the 17th minute when freshman Danny Castro (Bell HS) was tackled in the box by Vikings goalkeeper Jesus Gutierrez. Sophomore Alejandro Covarrubias (Bell HS) came in to convert the penalty kick for his fourth goal of the season. Before the end of the first half, freshman Christian Alvarez (Cabrillo HS) came on a made an immediate impact, as his pass to freshman Angel Ayala (Cabrillo HS) was converted to a goal and a 3-1 advantage. On the play, Alvarez dribbled to the right side of the net and sent a sharp pass to Ayala, who drilled a hard one-timer into the net.

Keeping their momentum, the Falcons scored two goals in less than two minutes within the first 10 minutes of the second half. On a free kick from outside the box, Alvarez lined a beautiful ball that wrapped around the wall and into the upper corner of the net that Gutierrez had no chance of saving. Not to be outdone, freshman Gerardo Soto (Salesian HS) took a simple feed from sophomore Juan Ochoa (Paramount HS) and rammed a shot past everyone that chased Gutierrez.

Long Beach City received a second goal by Aguirre in the 88th minute on a breakaway to account for their second goal. For the Falcons, sophomore Danny Lizama (Duarte HS) earned the win by making a pair of saves in 85 minutes of work, while freshman Jose Salgado (Paramount HS) saw his first action in the net and allowed a goal.

Scoring                    1st    2nd    F
Long Beach City        1       1      2
Cerritos                     3       2      5

Goals:
Long Beach City: Jessie Aguirre (8th minute; Robert Burgos assist); Jessie Aguirre (88th minute; Yohell DeJesus assist).
Cerritos: Daniel Garcia (5th minute; Jaime Cano assist); Alejandro Covarrubias (17th minute; penalty kick), Angel Ayala (36th minute; Christian Alvarez assist); Christian Alvarez (54th minute); Gerardo Soto (54th minute; Juan Ochoa (56th minute; assist).

Shot Attempts:
Long Beach City: 5 Shots
Cerritos: 16 Shots

Keeper Saves:
Long Beach City: Jesus Gutierrez (58 Minutes; 2 Saves); Cesar Tamayo (32 Minutes; 1 Save)
Cerritos: Danny Lizama (85 Minutes; 2 Saves); Jose Salgado (5 Minutes; 0 Saves)

Records:
Long Beach City: 6-6-5 Overall; 3-5-3 SCC
Cerritos: 16-1-1 Overall, 10-1-0 SCC