For the second season in a row, the Cerritos College men's soccer team failed to advance in the South Coast Conference Tournament due to penalty kicks. Hosting Long Beach City College in the semifinals on Tuesday, the Falcons were able to advance to penalty kicks on a last-second goal, only to come up short, 6-5 when they were turned away in their sixth attempt. The team will play host El Camino College in the third place game on Thursday.

With the two teams battling for any kind of advantage during regulation, it appeared as though the Vikings (15-3-3) had scored the potential game-winner in the 81st minute. But with the referee adding six minutes of extra time, the Falcons (12-2-4) used every second of that time and found the back of the net for the game-tying goal right before the whistle to end the game.

Heading into penalty kicks, both teams were successful in their first five attempts, although LB City goalkeeper Abraham Ramirez had his hands on the shot by freshman Pedro Reyes (Connections Academy HS) in the fourth round. However, the shot came off his foot a little harder than Ramirez could handle and went into the net.

The Falcons, who went first in each round, had their attempt by sophomore Jose Lopez (MY Academy HS) stopped by Ramirez in the sudden death sixth round. The Vikings secured the win when Julian Zarate scored against freshman goalkeeper Griffin Welch (Long Beach Poly HS) in the bottom half of the sixth round.

It was Lopez who sent the game into penalty kicks with his last-second heroics, as he chipped a rebound shot into the net. Less than a minute prior, Lopez was stoned by Ramirez on a point-blank shot.

Cerritos saw a shot by freshman Cesar Solarzano Garcia (California Pacific Charter HS) hit the crossbar in the 78th minute, while sophomore Erick Velasco (Norwalk HS) appeared to be able to score in the 87th minute after several fine passes, but his shot his the goal post.