Entering their South Coast Conference Tournament 5th place game against visiting Pasadena City College on Thursday, the Cerritos College men's soccer team was looking for another solid win before the playoff seeding. The Falcons (13-6-2), who posted a 3-1 win over the Lancers (10-8-4), are looking to at least maintain the #8 spot for the seeding, which was where they started the day in the power points. That seed would allow Cerritos to have a bye in the first round, which takes place next Wednesday.

It took just a little over six minutes for the Falcons to strike first, which has been a staple to the team's play in the second half of the season. Taking advantage of any offensive advantage against Pasadena City, sophomore Christopher Ramirez (Bishop Mora Salesian HS) was able to move the ball into Lancer territory, where sophomore Pedro Reyes (Connections Academy HS/Cal State Fullerton) fired off a shot as soon as he received the pass. He beat starting goalie Matthew Gilmore for his first goal of the season.

With time running out in the first half, Cerritos was able to add to their goal total, as freshman Christian Marin (Bishop Mora Salesian HS) sent a pinpoint pass to the foot of freshman Giancarlo Morales (Palos Verdes Peninsula HS), who finished the play with his second goal of the year. The low pass allowed Morales to control the ball with ease and beat Gilmore.

After the Lancers were able to get on the board in the 77th minute when freshman goalkeeper Anthony Gomez (Los Alamitos HS) came out to play a shot and had it go through his hands, Cerritos didn't waste time getting that goal back. Gomez, who came on in the 36th minute of the first half, appeared to initially have made a stop on the shot by Israel Gonzalez. But he was unable to maintain possession and saw it roll into the net.

A little more than two minutes later, the Falcons saw an advantage when Lancers replacement goalkeeper Leo Mendoza was caught out of position. Sophomore Guatavo Arias (Fairmont Prep HS) was right there to score into the wide open net for his team-leading 10th goal.

Photos by Daryl Peterson