Men's Soccer: Vikings drop conference opener to rival Cerritos, 4-3

After being shut out by No. 4 nationally-ranked Rio Hondo College on Friday, the Long Beach City College men's soccer team tallied three goals on Tuesday but it wasn't enough as the Vikings lost 4-3 to the rival Cerritos College Falcons in both teams' South Coast Conference opener at LBCC.

After a promising 4-1-1 start to the season, the Vikings have now lost two straight to fall to 4-3-1 and 0-1 in conference play. Cerritos surprisingly won for the first time this season to improve to 1-5-2 and 1-0 in the SCC.

The Falcons set the tone early for both teams' offensive show. Cerritos struck first with a goal in the sixth minute by Nathan Martin before LBCC freshman Bryan Majano (Downey HS) connected with a cross pass from freshman Andrew Hernandez (Paramount HS) for a goal in the 17th minute to tie the game.

Cerritos went ahead in the 44th minute after a goal by Mark Cruz but that lead didn't last for long as sophomore Evair Marin (Cabrillo HS) got the equalizer just moments before the halftime whistle off the assist from sophomore Joel Atilano (Artesia HS).

But in the second half, Cerritos took a commanding 4-2 advantage with goals in the 54th and 60th minute by Francisco Orozco and Ricardo Colin.

Long Beach got back into the contest with a tremendous header goal by Atilano off the pass from freshman Israel Gonzalez (Paramount HS) in the 66th minute to cut the lead to one. Long Beach had its chances down the stretch but couldn't find the back of the net. In the 75th minute, Gonzalez' free kick from outside the penalty box hit the crossbar and in the 90th minute, freshman Gonzalo Velez' (Norwalk HS) shot from in front of the net was knocked down by a Cerritos defender for a team save.

Freshman Arnulfo Vargas totaled three saves in goal for the Vikings while Cerritos' Jaime Sanchez had four saves.

Long Beach will look to get back on track on Friday (Oct. 2) when the Vikings travel to El Camino College-Compton Center for a 4 p.m. conference game.