It took 60 minutes for the Cerritos College women's soccer team to get on the board, which led to two more in their 3-0 playoff win over Saddleback College on Saturday. The Falcons (20-0-1), ranked #1 in the Southern California Regional Playoffs, posted a 3-0 home win over the #16-seeded Gauchos (13-4-6), who defeated Long Beach City College, 1-0 on Thursday to get the chance to play Cerritos. The team has advanced to the second round and will host #9-seeded Cypress College (12-6-3), who upset #8-seeded San Diego Mesa on penalty kicks at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Falcons sent a plethora of shots at Saddleback goalkeeper Alexandria Scott in the first half, but she turned away eight of them to keep the game scoreless. The Gauchos had a great chance to take an early lead when 28-goal scorer Danyelle Allen was turned away by sophomore Alexis Carrillo (Bishop Amat HS), who played the first 81 minutes and posted three saves.

But it was at the 60-minute mark where Cerritos got on the scoreboard. Freshman Carolina Ornelas (Artesia HS) worked the ball down to the end line where she sent a crossing pass toward the goal. The 6-2 Allen wasn't able to get to the ball fast enough and freshman Nayeli Requejo (Bishop Amat HS) was there to head home her team-leading 24th goal of the year.

A mere 3:18 later, it was a 2-0 Cerritos lead when sophomore Claudia Lopez (Downey HS) controlled the ball and forced her way past a pair of Gaucho defenders. After centering her body, Lopez drilled home her 21st goal of the season, with freshman Celinna Montano (Warren HS) earning the assist. Lopez then closed out the scoring in the 76th minute when she stole the ball on the Saddleback side of the field. Again, she was able to work her way through the defense and found herself alone in front of Scott and fired a shot into the back of the net for an insurance goal.

Photos by Daryl Peterson