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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Cerritos girls soccer team advance to California state championships March 12




The Cerritos Firecrackers girls’ soccer team won the American Youth Soccer Organization’s Section 11 title by a 2-1 score over Corona Del Mar on Sunday, February 13 to qualify for the AYSO California State Championships to be held at the Chapman Sports Complex in Garden Grove on March 12.
The Firecrackers, a 15-member team of 13- and 14-year old girls, are part of the AYSO Region 54 Cerritos soccer program and now one of only four teams statewide that will compete in the prestigious AYSO California Championships next month. The Firecrackers began their road to playing for the state championship by first winning the Region 54 league title to qualify for area playoffs. The Firecrackers faced strong teams from Cypress, W. Garden Grove, Whittier, Los Alamitos and Garden Grove to reach the area final before taking home to the playoffs’ top medal with a 4-0 victory over a team from Los Alamitos.

Next, the Firecrackers won the Section 11 tournament by winning all four of its games by the same score of 2-1. The Cerritos team won its opening section game on Saturday morning against La Mesa when Karen Malacon expertly put away from a cross from Juliana Orozco as time was expiring. In the afternoon game, the Firecrackers rallied to beat San Juan Capistrano thanks to goals by Rubi Vazquez and Madison Wells. With a place in the section final at stake, Cerritos girls delivered a gutsy performance against a talented South Gate squad and a pair of goals by Vazquez sent the team to the championship.
The girls then played their best game of the year on Sunday afternoon, as they produced scoring chance after scoring chance in the first half against Corona Del Mar. Their perseverance paid off in the final half with Madison Wells and Juliana Orozco beating the Corona Del Mar goalkeeper to send the Cerritos’ supporters into frenzy. Corona Del Mar made the score 2-1 in the final seconds of the game and when the final whistle sounded the local girls had secured their berth in the state championships. As winners, the Cerritos girls claimed the top spot in a tough section that is made up of nearly 70 regions and featuring around 300 teams in this division.
In midfield or in attack, Cheyenne Avila, Isabel Garcia, Marissa Pacheco, Cynthia Rogel and Vanessa Van Deudekom ran tirelessly and chased every ball to provide the forwards with opportunities to score. At the back, defensive captain Summer Jordan and talented young central defender Kaylie Mota turned away every challenge, while fullbacks Justine Vitug, Ariel Burns and Lauren Miranda played their roles to perfection while often facing the opposing teams’ best offensive players. Karina Mayoral, who has improved with every game as the team’s starting goalkeeper, made a bucketful of outstanding saves while providing leadership in defense.
For the season, the Cerritos Firecrackers’ overall record is 17 wins, one loss and two ties. The team has scored 61 goals in 20 games while allowing only eight. Madison Wells is the leading scorer with 19 goals followed by Rubi Vazquez with 15, Juliana Orozco with 10 and Karen Malacon with six. Several of this team’s players are also on the Cerritos region’s All Star team that will try to advance this upcoming weekend to the AYSO California State All Star Championships.
The California State Championships cover over 260 regions. There are an estimated 800 teams in the Girls U14 division statewide. Sign-ups for the Cerritos Region 54 Fall 2011 season will take place in the summer. For more information visit the region’s internet site at www.ayso54.org.

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