Executing their offensive game plan exactly the way they intended, the Cerritos College men's soccer team was unable to do the one thing necessary to win. The Falcons, competing in the CCCAA State Semifinal game at DeAnza College on Friday, fell, 1-0 to Fresno City College to see their season come to an end. The defending state and national champions, Cerritos concluded their season with an 18-3-4 record and suffered their first loss to the Rams since 2015.

"We did everything on offense we intended to do in this game," said head coach Benny Artiaga, who has led his teams to the Final Four the last three seasons. "We created scoring chances the way we wanted, but just couldn't finish. Sometimes the soccer gods don't give you the finish that you had hoped for. But I'm incredibly proud of our guys and the way they played."

It was just eight minutes into the game when Cerritos had their first chance, as freshman Hector Aguirre-Ruiz (Montebello HS) saw his shot off a centering pass end up going just over the crossbar. Not much longer after that, freshman Armando Ibarra, Jr. (Downey HS) had a great look, but his shot also cleared the crossbar. Continuing their offensive attack on Fresno City, sophomore David Lermas (Paramount HS/Compton College) had a header go high in the 23rd minute, while sophomore Kevin Diaz (Connections Academy HS) fired a low line drive that went through the goal crease and wide left in the 27th minute.

As time was running our in the first half, the Rams penetrated the Falcon defense, which required a fine save from freshman goalkeeper Luis Enciso (Gahr HS). It gave Fresno City a corner kick, which they executed in the 45th minute on a scramble in front of the net. On the play, Melvin Benitez sent the corner to the front of the net, where Michael Vega was in position to tap the ball into the goal for what would turn out to be the lone goal of the game.

"If we had just scored on one of those chances early in the first half, I think the whole outcome of the game would be different," added Artiaga. "Fresno wouldn't have been able to sit back like they do, and it would have created even more chances for us to score. Give them a lot of credit. They scored in their only chance and were able to sit back and hold off our attack."

The chances didn't end in the second half, as the quartet of Kendrick Garcia (Fairfax HS), Diaz, Lermas and Ernie Cueva all had effective headers in the final 25 minutes that either went over the crossbar or were stopped by Rams goalkeeper Evan Ghimenti.

"It's kind of hard walking away from this game knowing you were the better team," continued Artiaga. "I told our guys to hold their heads up. We played really well, but they got the one that counted."