Colts state championship run ends with semifinals loss to Cerritos

MISSION VIEJO - The Cerritos College men's soccer team advanced to the 3C2A Men's Soccer State Championship with a 3-2 win against Cañada College on Friday night at Saddleback College. With the win, Cerritos will face the winner of Los Angeles City College and Hartnell College, who play later on Friday night.

Cerritos and Cañada were even on the scoreboard at 1-1 heading to the locker rooms despite Cerritos holding a sizeable advantage in total shots for the opening half. 

Cañada grabbed the early lead when Francesco Lipparoni scored his second goal of the season off a feed from Diego Ruiz in the 20th minute to give the Colts the early advantage.  Cerritos responded in the 31st minute when Julio Portillo raced through two defenders and beat Cañada keeper Luis Evangelista to tie the game at 1-1.  It was Portillo's eighth goal of the season and seemed to spark some momentum for the Falcons, who finished with a 10-3 advantage in total shots for the half.

The game remained tied into the second half when Cerritos struck quickly to take their first lead of the game on a goal by Gustavo Arias in the 47th minute. It was Arias' team-leading 15th goal of the season.

The lead was short-lived for Cerritos, however, as Cañada answered quickly.  The Colts tied the game in the 53rd minute when Isaiah Flor took a feed from Altai Ordubadi and blasted it by Cerritos goalkeeper Eduardo Enriquez to even the game. 

The game remained even until the 62nd minute when Arias struck again for Cerritos.  The sophomore from Fairmont Preparatory Academy notched his second goal of the game and 16th of the season when he blasted a ball through the keepers hands off a feed from Alejandro Oropeza.  The goal gave Cerritos a 3-2 lead with under 28 minutes remaining on the clock in what would eventually be deemed the game-winning goal.

Cañada would pull some players forward over the final 10 minutes in an attempt to get a game-tying goal, but the Cerritos defense would keep them off the scoreboard to preserve the win.  Cerritos would finish with a 17-13 advantage in total shots and a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal.

The trip to the finals for Cerritos is the first since 2018 when they defeated Golden West College for their fourth state title in men's soccer.

Cerritos is now 16-6-3 overall following the win.  Cañada finishes the season 12-3-8. 

Courtesy 3C2A