Cerritos Perfect Route To SCC Men's Soccer South Crown, Mt. SAC Not So Easy For North Title
As the state's #1-ranked team and #1-power points squad at 2.60 per game, Cerritos College showed exactly what a powerhouse can do in making a perfect trip on its way to the South Coast Conference South Division men's soccer championship.
The undefeated Falcons (17-0-2) outscored opponents, 30-5, in nine SCC victories (one a forfeit win over East Los Angeles). It was Cerritos' second straight conference title and fifth in the last six seasons under head coach Benny Artiega.
Meanwhile, it was a dog fight for the North Division championship and Mt. San Antonio's modest 5-3-1 mark was enough to win a tiebreaker over Rio Hondo (also 5-3-1, but lost to the Mounties in their matchup, 2-1). Despite losing to three South Division teams, Mt. SAC captured its sixth straight conference title and 16th in its history (all since 1999).
Kobe Chavez, who has 11 goals this season, and Pablo Caparelli (8 goals, 10 assists) have been top playmakers for Cerritos while goalie Steven Ruiz has a streak still going of 437 minutes without allowing a goal. That spans six games and he has recorded four shutouts in the scoreless run.
Mt. SAC (13-5-1) is paced by the conference's second-leading scorer in Alex Mendez with 11 goals and a SCC high 11 assists and Andrew Vazquez, also with 11 goals. The Mounties are #12 in state power points with an average of 2.23, but were rated #5 in the CCCSIA State Top 20.
The team that has the most reason to not care for the current format of splitting the 10 conference teams into two 5-team divisions but playing the same 9-game schedule is El Camino College. The Warriors (15-2-1 overall) totaled the SCC's second-most team points (22) and finished 7-1-1 in conference games. However, it had to settle for second place in the South and the No. 3 seed in the upcoming South Coast Conference Tournament.
State #4-ranked ECC does have the conference scoring leader in Mario Carlos, who has 13 goals and nine assists for 35 points. The Warriors have the state's #5 highest power points at 2.32 per contest.
Rio Hondo (10-7-3) settled for second place in the North and is 14th in the SoCal power points ratings. Adan Villareal is one of several talented playmakers for the Roadrunners. One of the surprise teams this year is state #15-ranked Los Angeles City (11-5-4), which owns the #5 seed, is 11th in SoCal power ratings, and officially took third in the SCC North at 3-3-3. Felipe Alvarez is among the standouts on the Cubs roster.
State #18-ranked Long Beach City (7-4-7), the #7 team in SoCal power points at 2.09 a contest, has one of the conference's top goalies in Ryan Swan, who has 66 saves and a 1.65 goals against average in playing every minute in defending the Vikings cage.
SCC 2022 TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
ROUND 1
Friday, Nov. 4
Game 1--#6 Long Beach at #3 El Camino, 3:30 p.m.
Game 2--#5 Los Angeles City at #4 Rio Hondo, 6 p.m.
Game 3--#10 LA Harbor at #7 Compton, 5 p.m.
Game 4--#9 Pasadena City at #8 East Los Angeles, 6:30 p.m.
ROUND 2
Tuesday, Nov. 8
Game 5--Highest Seed from Game 1/2 winners at #2 Mt. San Antonio
Game 6--Lowest Seed from Game 1/2 winners at #1 Cerritos
Game 7--7th Place Final--Winner of Game 3 v. Winner Game 4
Game 8--9th Place Final--Loser of Game 3 v. Loser of Game 4
Game 9--5th Place Final--Loser of Game 1 v. Loser of Game 2
CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3
Friday, Nov. 11--at El Camino College
Game 10--3rd Place Final--Loser Game 5 v. Loser Game 6, 1 p.m.
Game 11--Championship Final--Winner Game 5 v. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m.