On the start of a five-game road trip, the Cerritos College Falcons women’s soccer team lost to the Santiago Canyon Hawks 4-0 on Sept. 23 with the absence of key players.

Dealing with injuries, the Falcons also faced challenges in the lineup with captain Jenna Santos and midfielder Samara Gonzalez both suspended for their involvement in the confrontations in the game against Fullerton College.

Santos received a one game ban for arguing with the referee and Gonzalez received two games for fighting.

Falcons head coach Yvette Vascones said, “It’s kind of the same thing we had to do today, so we’ll see what we have. We’ll see who’s healthy and we’ll just go from there.”

Vascones made position changes in this game by moving Falcons leading goal scorer Ariana Rivera and forward Jessica Arroyo to defense.

On her position change Rivera said, “I feel like I was confident enough to step up and be a good player in the defensive line. I feel like I was very calm in the back, had some minor errors, but I had my speed to back me up.”

The Falcons were completely outshot in this game as the Hawks had 25 shots on goalkeeper Paulina Prescott.

With the Falcons struggling on offense, Vascones moved Rivera back to her forward position.

“I think she wanted to press the defenders so we could get at least a goal in but obviously it didn’t work out,” Rivera said when moving back to play forward.

“It sucks but we have Jenna next game and we’re fighting to have Samara next game. So, I mean slowly we’re going to get ready for season. I think that’s what we’re looking forward to is we’re getting our get back in season,” Arroyo said on the loss of Santos and Gonzalez.

Vascones said, “They stuck to the game plan that we wanted. It was just unfortunate they had some good shots, but I’m so proud of the girls.”

The Falcons went on to Costa Mesa to face the Orange Coast College Pirates only to lose 4-0 on Sept. 26.

Falcons have one week off before they return to play as they begin conference league play on the road in Walnut, CA against the Mount San Antonio College Mounties on Oct. 7.

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