Looking to get back on the winning side of things, the Rio Hondo women’s soccer team traveled to Cerritos College Friday, Nov. 2 to take on the Falcons. With both teams ranked inside the top twenty in the nation, and Cerritos being number one, it was poised to be a battle of two very good teams. Unfortunately, the Rio Hondo Roadrunners were on the losing side of things.  

The end result was a 4-0 victory by the Falcons. The Roadrunners seemed to be no match for the Falcons.They not only had to travel away from the comforts of their home stadium but play against some athletes for Cerritos who bounced back from NCAA Div. I universities. This is fairly common in junior college sports.

There is a variety of reasons why this can happen but it definitely put Cerritos at an upper-hand when their skill level is that high. Two of the bounce backs were the goal scorers for Cerritos.  Sydney Carr and Serena Camacho were both on the University of California-Irvine women’s soccer team a year ago and scored two goals a piece against the Roadrunners.

A mistake that led to an early goal was the beginning of the end for Rio.

“After that, we were playing catch-up,” is what head coach Jennifer Tanaka told me post game.  “We need to do the little things, because the little things matter.”

They battled hard but just didn’t get the end result they wanted. The number one ranked team in the nation would not give Rio an inch and made it difficult to set up the soccer that Rio wanted and needed to play.  

The second half was a good sign for the Roadrunners. They played with a lot of effort and played inspired. However, it wouldn’t be enough as Rio was not able to put the ball in the net and went scoreless in a game for just the second time this season.

With the Rio not having a win in the box score since facing Compton Oct. 23, it is imperative to take advantage of their last two regular season games. They are still ranked 15th in the nation, 11th in the state, and 5th in the South Coast Conference. Come out and support Rio as they take on Pasadena City College, Tuesday, Nov. 6 at home at 4 p.m., for their sophomore game.