Championships Capped
by Two Thrillers!

Taft Men and Cerritos Women take titles

The Taft College mens soccer team defeated Santa Rosa Junior College 2-1 in overtime to claim the 2007 California Community College Soccer State Championship.

Santa Rosa opened the scoring in the 29th minute when Justin Ferreira scored to put the Bear Cubs up 1-0. Taft tied the game at 1-1 when Sergio Valle sent a cross in the 59th minute and Carlos Aguilar buried a shot into the back of the goal.

Despite dominating the entire game, Santa Rosa was not able to convert on several scoring opportunities and the game headed into overtime. Neither team scored in the first period and the game looked to be headed to a shootout when Valle found Aguilar again with no time remaining to give Taft the 2-1 victory.

The Cerritos College women's soccer team defeated Santiago Canyon College (SCC) 2-1 to claim the 2007 California Community College Soccer State Championship. The Falcons (24-2-3) scored both its goals in the final two minutes to overcome a 1-0 SCC (26-1-0) lead.

SCC scored the first goal of the game in the 68th minute when Kaitlin Thulin's corner kick found the head off Sarah Califf who was able to beat the Falcons goalkeeper.

Cerritos tied the game late in the 88th minute when Celia Ramirez intercepted a failed clearing attempt by the Hawks' defense and fired a shot passed the SCC keeper. The game appeared to be headed to overtime when Cerritos' Monique Cisneros stole the ball deep in SCC territory and broke the 1-1 tie with a goal in stoppage time. SCC failed to get another shot and Cerritos won the game 2-1.

Corina Villegas was named the state's Most Valuable Player.