Warriors Slide Late in Loss to Cerritos

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College and Cerritos College entered Tuesday afternoon's South Coast Conference opener as two of the top teams in the state, but the No. 1 Falcons prevailed with a second-half outburst en route to a 4-1 decision over the No. 3 Warriors at the ECC Soccer Field.

The Warriors (8-2-0, 0-1-0) suffered just their second loss of the season, allowing the most goals in a game to an opponent all season. The Falcons (9-0-2, 1-0-0) peppered the Warriors goal with 10 shots on target and 21 overall.

Donovan Palomares made a season-high six saves but it was not enough as the Falcons found the back of the net three times in the second half including two goals less than three minutes apart to turn a one-goal game into a rout.

Mario Carlos scored his eighth goal of the season on a rebound off his own penalty kick to bring ECC within 2-1 in the 65th minute but the Falcons answered with goals in the 72nd and 75th minutes to put it away.

The first half was relatively close as the Falcons took a 1-0 lead into halftime after a goal from Jaret Rocha on a free kick from 25 yards in the 36th minute.

The Warriors will look to bounce back on Friday night as they travel to L.A. City for a late kickoff at 7:30 p.m.