SUBURBAN LEAGUE GIRLS SOCCER

Cerritos cures itself, ends losing drought to Monsoons
By Loren Kopff

LAKEWOOD-With several players battling health issues, Cerritos girls soccer head coach Victoria Lathrop saw her team have a bad practice this past Monday. But 24 hours later, the Lady Dons looked like a team that was ready for the upcoming California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section playoffs.
• For the first time since Feb. 3, 1998, the Lady Dons defeated Mayfair, a perennial powerhouse of the Suburban League. And it’s not just the final score of 4-0 that was shocking, it’s how fast Cerritos dominated the game. All four goals were scored within the first 19 minutes of the contest, sending a statement that Cerritos and Artesia are now catching up to La Mirada and Mayfair for supremacy in the league. This will be the first time in over 14 seasons that Mayfair will not finish first or second in the league.
• “This shows what determination and hard work can do,” Lathrop said. “Injuries, sickness; they were willing to push through it today. A lot of the credit goes straight to them. They came to win.”
• The Lady Dons (12-4-1 overall, 7-3-1 in league) broke through in the ninth minute when sophomore forward Connie Caliz moved down the right side of the field, then proceeded to go into the penalty box where she passed to senior midfielder Paige Larkin whose shot went through the left side. Two minutes later and almost by the same design, Caliz scored off a pass from senior midfielder Bianca Frontino.
• With the Monsoons sensing this wasn’t going to be their day, the defense couldn’t recover and Larkin scored in the 13th minute to stun those in attendance. The three goals already were the most that any Cerritos team had scored against Mayfair in at least 14 seasons. Junior midfielder Sarah Pasos completed the scoring in the 19th minute with a free kick that sailed over the Mayfair goalkeeper.
• Even though Cerritos clinched third place and entered its final regular season game at front running La Mirada with 22 points, it could have picked up another win instead of the one tie. On Jan. 12, Cerritos led Mayfair 2-1 before the Monsoons tied the game during stoppage time and 30 seconds before the referee blew his whistle.
• “I think that game last time was an awakening for both squads,” Lathrop said. “I think for us, it was the fact that as prestigious as Mayfair has been in the past, we’ve grown too. So, us being able to [tie them] was great for us. We left that game saying we can’t allow any more like that [in the second round].”
• Heading into its game at La Mirada, Caliz was leading the team with 18 goals, 12 coming in league action. Frontino was one goal behind her with 11 coming in league action. Sophomore forward Analisa Marquez and Larkin each had 14 goals and Pasos eight, making the Lady Dons a heavy threat in the playoffs. In addition to the season tallies, Frontino has 39 goals in her high school career which is fifth best in school history and the 18 from Caliz are the most in a single season since the 2005-2006 when Jamie Beatty scored 21.
• “Those five players have really come a long way,” Lathrop said. “I think our biggest challenge with them has been getting them to play as a unit, and that’s what they did today.”