They came into the Southern California Regional Playoffs with a combined five state championships in their second round game on Wednesday. But the Cerritos College women's soccer team moved one step closer to winning their third, as they eliminated #6-seeded Cypress College, 2-0 to advance to the Elite Eight. The #3-seeded Falcons (18-2-2) will host #7-seeded Ventura College (16-5-1) at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday with the winner advancing to the State Tournament. Earlier in the year, Cerritos defeated the Pirates, 2-1, but since then, Ventura has gone 14-0-1 which includes a 1-0 upset win over #2-seeded College of the Canyons to set up their meeting with the Falcons.

In the win over the Chargers (16-3-3), Cerritos used their blazing speed on the edges, coupled with a solid back row - along with a couple of breaks - to hold off their opponents. After controlling the ball at the onset of the contest, the Falcons struck first when freshman Claudia Ibarra (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) bent a beautiful left-footer corner kick that eluded a leaping Michelle Mendez, who got a piece of the ball, but saw it fall into the net for a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.

It very easily could have been a 2-1 Cypress lead after Monique Gerrits saw her shot on goal deflect off freshman goalkeeper Maria Santoyo (Universidad de Guadalajara HS). But sophomore Chelsea Villegas (Bishop Amat HS) was there to clear the ball out of danger. Three minutes later, the Chargers Kimberly Gonzalez rattled a rising shot from 25 yards out off the crossbar before Santoyo (eight saves) could gather possession of the ball in the 26th minute. Santoyo also made a diving save in the 48th minute against Lisette Guevara to preserve the shutout.

It didn't take very long for the Falcons to regain their composure and pressure the Cypress defense, as speedy Lauren Nanez (La Mirada HS) dribbled past defender Alexandria Moctezuma and turned the corner toward the box. She lofted a picture-perfect pass over the defense and Mendez to freshman Claudia Lopez (Downey HS), who headed the ball into the net in the 29th minute for a 2-0 lead.

The Cerritos defense, led by Villegas, sophomores Karina Sandoval (Universidad de Guadalajara HS) and Jennifer Mejicanos (Bellflower HS), along with freshmen Alyssa Cabral (Bishop Amat HS) and Cristal Yantuche (Lakewood HS) withstood all offensive attacks by Cypress, while the overall speed of the Falcons enabled them to tilt the field in their direction, as they outshot their opponents, 18-12 on the day.