Talon Sports Overtime

From the bride to the bridesmaid

2009-12-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

Save for wrestling, the fall season is now over at Cerritos and there is a certain something missing. There's something that doesn't seem quite right, an emptiness about the close of the season that leaves us all scratching our heads and wondering what happened. That something that's missing, of course, is a state championship.

Maybe we have become spoiled here at Cerritos, or maybe the expectations placed on our athletes are unrealistic. Regardless, the fact that the athletic teams came away from the playoffs empty-handed leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

To make matters worse, compare this year's failures (if you can call having every team making it to the playoffs a failure) to the success of last year. At this time a year ago, Cerritos athletics laid claim to two state titles (women's water polo and men's soccer) and a national championship (women's soccer). This year, women's water polo was bounced from the regional tournament in the second round, the women's soccer team also lost in the second round of the playoffs, and the men's soccer team went one game further and was knocked out in the third round.

Here at Cerritos, we're used to winning. Just making it to the playoffs is not good enough. Ask any Lakers fan whether he is content with the team making it to the playoffs and losing. Odds are, he'll dismissively give excuses for why a championship was not won before declaring the season a failure. The same is true for the sports teams at Cerritos College. One look at the sorrow and disbelief on the bench after the men's soccer team was enough for anyone to see that anything short of a title is just not good enough.

Despite the aforementioned disappointments, there were some bright spots this fall. The volleyball team finished third in the conference and went to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. The men's water polo team advanced to the regional playoff tournament and the cross country teams both went to the state championship meet. There, the men finished 10th and the women 16th.

Football ended the season with mixed emotions. They started the season 8-0 and finished the regular season 9-1. They entered the playoffs as the number 3 seed after missing out on the playoffs in 2008. However, in the first round of the playoffs the team was handed a convincing loss by Palomar College.

Next fall, when hopes and expectations are once again high for stacks of hardware to be brought back to Norwalk, remember what this moment feels like. Keep in mind what it feels like for teams that were supposed to win championships and were knocked out early, because the athletes returning next year sure will. Hopefully, those feelings will serve as motivation to bring Cerritos athletics back to prominence.

The Talon Marks Curse

2009-11-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

If you know sports, or even if you know video games, odds are you're familiar with the Madden curse. If not, the basics go something like this: whichever ill-fated athlete ends up on the cover of the newest Madden football game will undoubtedly incur a debilitating injury at some point in the next NFL season.

Unfortunately, there is strong evidence of another curse in the world of sports and Talon Marks is to blame. In the two most recent issues of the Talon Marks, there was a full page feature on the success of one of the sports teams. This feature was meant to highlight each team's success and preview what should have been a successful run deep into the postseason. However, both teams (women's water polo and football) were both eliminated from the playoffs prematurely within days of being featured in the paper.

Maybe it's coincidence, but maybe not. Did we, the sports section at the Talon Marks, somehow curse our own sports teams by dedicating an entire page to them? Or was the regular season simply a poor indicator of the strength of each team? These are questions that, for now, will have to remain a mystery. The last fall edition of the Talon Marks will not have a feature of a team, and the playoffs will have been finished by then anyway.

Just in case, we would like to issue an informal apology to the women's water polo and the football team for possibly being the source of their misfortune over the last few weeks. This is something that will be further investigated in the winter when both basketball teams (hopefully) begin postseason play. For now, the men's soccer team can rest assured that they will not be featured in the final fall edition of Talon Marks. Seeing as how they are the final Cerritos athletic team remaining from the fall, we would like to wish it luck on it's quest for a back-to-back state title.

Playoff Fever!

2009-11-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

With the football team's win over El Camino yesterday, the playoffs are officially here! Yes, they have technically been going on for the last week or so, and some teams are still finishing out the regular season, but it finally starts to get good. This is the time of the semester (community college) sports fans look forward to.

Here is a quick rundown of what to expect over the next few weeks as Cerritos athletics begins its trek to state championships.

Football: After hyping football just a second ago, it only makes sense to start with them here. Finishing 9-1 to end the regular season, the Falcons of the gridiron will host Palomar College in the first round of the playoffs. Yes, community colleges do it the right way and have playoffs, and make bowl games a consolation prize. Look for Cerritos to go deep into the playoffs, as it is ranked No. 5 in the state and has proven it can get the job done on both sides of the ball.

Cross Country: The men's and women's cross country team will travel to Fresno to take part in the state championship meet on Nov. 21. The men secured their spot in the final by placing sixth in the Southern California championship, while the women placed ninth in the same meet. Last year the men placed eleventh in state and the women fifth. This year, a top ten finish will be more than respectable for either squad.

Water Polo: The men's water polo season came to an end when they were defeated by Mt. San Antonio, 10-5, on Nov. 12 in the Souther California Regional Playoffs. The men went into the tournament as the eighth seed and ended the season 17-11. The women were also knocked out of the playoffs by a familiar foe. The Falcons lost, 5-3, to Long Beach in the second round of the So. Cal. Regional Tournament. The loss was only the second of the year for Cerritos (30-2), and is surely a disappointment for a team that looked poised for another state championship.

Soccer: The women's soccer team came into the season ranked No. in the nation, but ended the regular season by narrowly claiming the SCC crown. The team are still one of the favorites to repeat as state champions, but the couple of stumbles along the way (most recently, a 2-1 loss to El Camino) leaves a glimmer of hope for the competition. The men entered the season as the N0. 2 team in the country, but have faltered enough to finish only second in the SCC. Their performance during the regular season should still be enough to earn them a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Look for both teams to make deep runs into the playoffs with another state championship from both teams a good possibility.

Volleyball: The regular season ends on Wednesday, when Cerritos will travel to LA City. The Falcons are assured at least a share of third place in the SCC, and will begin the playoffs on Nov. 24. The team is coming off a sweep of Mt. SAc, and if it beats LA City then the momentum being carried into the playoffs may be just enough to advance Cerritos into the regional finals.

Wrestling: The Cerritos grapplers will also finish their regular season on Wednesday by hosting Palomar. Two days later, the state duals championships begin on Nov. 20, followed by the Fullerton Open on Nov. 21. All of this will be good preparation for the So Cal regional tournament on Dec. 5. Caleb Gerl and Jose Lopez stand the best chance at individual glory at 184 and 285 pounds respectively.

So there you have it. Some disappointment, some excitement, and much more still to come over the next few weeks. Keep an eye on the rest of the playoffs, as Cerritos is likely to come out on top in many of these playoff contests.

(UN)fair play

2009-11-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

Before you read this post, you must watch this video (and read the article if you're so inclined)....

Now let the contents sink in a bit...

Maybe you're disgusted by what you saw, maybe you're indignant, or maybe you're unperturbed. The one thing you should not feel is shock. Surprise, possibly. Shock? Please...

The actions of New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert were somewhat over the top, to say the least. There's no excuse for things like pulling a girl down by the hair or throwing not one, but two, punches while going for a loose ball. What's even more deplorable than the actions of Lambert, was the actions (or inaction) of the referee(s).

This was a NCAA division 1 match, with what one would expect to be top notch officials. However, after the half dozen or so attacks (yes, they can be labeled as attacks) by Lambert, she wound up with nothing but a yellow card? That's the same punishment for tugging on someone's jersey. To allow such play to continue is a terrible display of refereeing, but again, it was not shocking.

Why is it not surprising Lambert wasn't punished more severely during the match? Really, one can't be certain. However I have a sneaking suspicion it's because she is a she and not a he.

Now, I am not trying to be sexist here. But, the truth of the matter is that from my own experiences watching both men's and women's games (many times one after the other) at Cerritos and elsewhere, the women get away with far more fouls than the men. In a modest attempt to prove this observation, we can look at things on a large and small scale.

On the large scale, a comparison between the number of yellow cards handed out in the American professional soccer leagues MLS (men's) and WPS (women's) show a disparity. Over the course of the last season of the MLS, the 15 teams averaged 1.868 yellow cards per game during the 30-game season. The teams in the WPS, on the other hand, averaged 0.871 cautions per game over the inaugural 20-game season this last year. On top of that, each MLS team committed an average of 11.464 fouls per game. Each WPS team averaged only 8.507 fouls per game. These stats show quite a disparity in the men's and women's games at the professional level. Now, what about at the community college level?

On October 9, Cerritos travelled across the 605 to take on Long Beach. In somewhat of a ho hum match that saw Cerritos beat LBCC 3-0, there were a total of 43 fouls called (nearly twice as much as the average MLS game.) From a mostly unbiased viewpoint, there were a number of times the ref probably could have swallowed his whistle and allowed play to go on. Most of the fouls were legitimate though.

In the women's game directly afterwards, the atmosphere on the pitch was intense from the beginning. After every play, there was just a little something extra (a push, a kick, a discreet punch). It was especially obvious that ex-Viking Nancy Gandarillas was the target of many of these assaults. So, how many fouls were called in the match? 13. Only 4 on Long Beach and 9 on Cerritos. That's 30 less fouls called in the women's game than in the men's.

The most interesting thing about the women's game is that a total of 5 cautions were handed out: 3 on LBCC and 2 on Cerritos (inlcuding one in the last minute of the game that was a retaliation against what Cerritos believed to be unusually rough play on the part of LBCC). That's 5 cautions and only 13 fouls in the game. In the men's game there were only 2 cautions to go along with the 43 fouls.

This micro example is not perfect. The officiating crew in the men's was different than the women's, and maybe it was just that referee that was subpar. However, in each subsequent game that Long Beach has played, the men are ALWAYS called for more fouls than the women.

If women soccer players are called for less fouls than men, then it can't be a shock that when it's a female soccer player that pulls a stunt (make that multiple stunts) like Lambert did. That's not to say that female athletes play dirtier than men or that there have not been countless incidents where men are the culprits of insidious play. The point is, since women are called for less fouls during the course of a game, then it shouldn't be shocking when a player like Lambert takes advantage of the lax atmosphere created by referees.

Great pool, where do I sit?

2009-10-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

The new aquatic center at Cerritos College is a fantastic addition to the campus and is the envy of many other aquatics programs. It has two pools, including a competition pool section 25 yards by 35 meters. This large pool is the same size as those used in conference, regional and state competitions.

The match between Cerritos and Long Beach was quite an event, with approximately 100 fans in attendance. Star center Natalie Peng proclaimed "this was the biggest turnout we've ever had." What a great chance for Cerritos to show off it's shiny new pool. The only problem was, instead of noticing how nice of a facility they were in, all the fans were concerned about was how hard it was to watch the game.

In the proposal for the facility, "the deck will have space for portable bleachers to accommodate 50 spectators along the west side of the pool and between the Competition pool and the Adaptive pool." In reality, that space was filled with about 60 chairs set up in three rows. For those that hoped to watch the game, but were not lucky enough to snag a front row seat, they were out of luck. Short of craning one's neck or standing up there was little chance of watching the rematch to last year's state championship.

Where are the bleachers? The day of the big game coincided with the dedication ceremony of the aquatics center. Yet, the center has no bleachers? If there are just a few good seats and no bleachers, then the center is not complete. Especially in a sport like water polo where the action is below the spectator, no matter how close the seat, stadium seating is required. There has to be bleachers available for everyone to have a view of the action.

It may not seem like a big deal, or maybe just not worth five paragraphs, but tell that to the couple of dozen people behind me complaining about not being able to see the game they drove to and paid parking to see. Imagine how much better it would be playing in front of a hundred HAPPY and (moderately) comfortable fans? Here's to hoping that those bleachers are there on Wednesday when Cerritos takes on Pasadena City College.

To Score or Not to Score?

2009-10-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

There is no worse feeling than losing "a whole lot" to "a little." Or is there?

After watching a few different Cerritos teams play much weaker competition, a dilemma was posed inside my head. Each game that I watched was a blowout, no question about it. But, each team handled how it went about playing its game differently.

For example, when the women's soccer team (then ranked number 4 in the nation) went up against Compton (in its inaugural season), it never slowed down and kept playing as if the score were perpetually 0-0. The second string was brought in and continued to do the same. Then the third string. The lone striker for Compton was even man-marked throughout the second half, because that was something that needed to be practiced for the next game. The score ended 8-0 in favor of Cerritos, but after talking to the Compton coach, it was clear she was pretty happy with the results.

Now, that game is in comparison to last week's women's water polo match against LA Trade-Tech. After scoring easily on the first possession, Cerritos was hesitant to even take a shot throughout the rest of the game. Time after time, Cerritos players refused to take a shot on goal, even with an open net. Don't get me wrong, they scored plenty of times (final score 18-0). However, the opportunity to score was not only there at least a dozen more times, but most of the opportunities were begging to be taken. Yet Cerritos simply passed the ball around until the shot clock ran out and they were forced to dump the ball.

So here's the problem: what should a team do when it is playing against a team that simply cannot match up to it? Is it better sportsmanship and respectful to "go easy" on a team and not run up the score to avoid embarrassing them? Or is it just as embarrassing for a team to show it's dominance by NOT scoring? Should the leading team treat its opponent as they would any other team and try it's hardest? Or is running up the score a cardinal sin of sports?

These questions have come up recently at the high school level, with coaches being disciplined for allowing their team to run up the score. A girl's basketball coach in Texas was fired last year after his team beat another school 100-0, and the refused to apologize for doing so. Another girl's basketball in Florida was also fired after being accused of "running up the score" in an "embarrassing" 67-11 win. (The fact that all of the above mentioned examples is not purely coincidental, but a discussion about title IX will be saved for a later post.)

In both instances, the coaches defended their actions by claiming they did everything they possibly could to keep the score from going even higher. They stopped pressing, took out the starters, played a zone defense, stopped running fast breaks, and stopped taking three-pointers. In short, they did everything but stop shooting. So should they coaches have been fired? I don't know. Is what they did wrong or "embarrassing?" No.

The worst thing a team can do when facing a lesser opponent is to treat them as a such by intentionally not scoring. By doing so, it's sending the message that "you're not worth our effort, and we don't need to try against you." No one wants to play in a game where the other team is scoring every time it gets the ball, but it's even worse when they are intentionally NOT scoring when they get the ball. As long as a team has taken all the other practical steps to lower the odds of scoring (i.e., removing starters) it should continue to play the same amount of effort as any other game.

It's especially unfair to the players that spend most of the time on the bench waiting for the chance to get into a game to be told "make sure you take it easy." Some players have such limited opportunities to obtain game-experience, it's a crime not to let them take full advantage of the situation.

So, final score? Women's soccer's handling of the situation 67, women's water polo 11.

What do you think? Is is more unsportsmanlike for a team to keep scoring or to intentionally not score?

Keeping Stats*

2009-10-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

What good is it to keep a record of statistics from a match if the stats are wrong? This is a question I've been wrestling with for the past few weeks now. Faulty statistics are especially troubling in sports when they involve records.

Last week, women's soccer player Nancy Gandarilla was credited with tying the school record for most assists in a game with 4. Gandarilla is a great player, and will likely break the record for most assists in a season. The current record is 18, set Corina Villegas last year. She has been credited with 15, with ten regular season games left to play.

This problem is that Gandarilla has been credited with at least two assists that she did not deserve. On Oct. 2, she was credited with the record-tying 4 assists against Pasadena. In that game she should have been credited with only three. On the fourth assist, she played a ball into the box that was first touched by not one, but two defenders before it found its way to Victoria Florez.

A few games earlier, on Sept. 18, she was credited for an assist that should have been given to Vanessa Monreal. Monreal crossed the ball early in the second half, and Miranda Madrid scored on the play. However, Gandarilla was given credit for making the pass and adding to her assist total.

That's at least two less assists that Gandarilla should have. If she ends up breaking the record for assists in a single season by one or even two assists, it will stand as official but undeserved. This is only one example of statistics gone wrong that has been witnessed first-hand. It may be the only two instances in which it's happened. Regardless, it calls into question the legitimacy of the records held by Cerritos athletes.

This problem is not limited to Cerritos. Just this last Friday, something as simple the number of fouls called against each team was incorrect in the final statistics. Now, something like what does and does not count as an assist in soccer or basketball, or whether a play should be counted as an error in baseball is something that is not obvious to the untrained eye. But, something like how many fouls were called in a game is easily recorded. So, what to do about the situation?

The answer is to have more than one set of eyes recording statistics for each game. Whether it be each team designating someone within its squad/staff to record statistics and then comparing the two, having two unaffiliated sets of eyes keep stats, or a combination of both, more than one person needs to be in charge of keeping statistics. Even if it comes down to an official and unofficial set of stats that are kept and then compared after the contest.

The reasoning for this, is that one person cannot be expected to be able to keep track of everything going on over the course of a fast-paced game. There are simply too many things going on at one time for one person to keep track of every statistic for the whole game. This is especially true if they are expected to keep track of stats for both teams. Different eyes, from different vantage points can help ensure that statistics are correct. It may not be a perfect solution, but it will help make things better and protect the legitimacy of all future records set by the great athletes of Cerritos College.

Cerritos sports is putting up HUGE numbers

2009-09-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Score...board...score...board! One of the most simple, yet to the point taunt there is. Not to mention, it's just so fitting for the teams at Cerritos College so far this year. A look at the numbers for games played by all teams this fall shows a glaring disparity bewtween Cerritos and its opponents. At this point the scoreboard reads like this:

Cerritos 489 - 274 Opponents.

Because different sports score their games differently, here's a breakdown of how each team has done thus far.

Football 115 - 9 Opponents

Amassing over 100 points in two games is quite impressive. ELAC and Santa Monica aren't exactly the cream of the crop in the world of JuCo football, but huge wins over these teams serve as great confidence boosters going into this weekend's game against the hated Vikings of LBCC.

Women's water polo 75 - 21 Opponents

13 players have already scored in the first four games. The biggest wins during these matches include a 19-1 win over Santa Monica and an 18-1 drubbing of Cabrillo. These numbers become even more impressive when you take into account that water polo games are only 24 minutes in length.

Women's soccer 23 - 0 Opponents

The only team to yet concede a point is off to a flying start. This type of start is nothing new to the women's soccer program. Last year they started the season with 8 straight shut outs and a +48 goal differential. While we're at it, here's another statistic for you: it's been 23 months since the women's soccer program have dropped a game.

Men's soccer 24 - 5 Opponents

In its first three games, the team won by an aggregate of 14 goals. The three contests since have been much closer, resulting in a tie and two wins. The goal differential in those last three games was a mere +3. Fun fact: striker Luis Gonzalez has scored or assisted on 12 of the team's 24 goals.

Volleyball 202 - 182 Opponents

At the Coyote Classic the volleyball team won two and lost two. The two losses (a total of five games) were by a total of only 13 points. The San Diego Mesa Tournament this weekend should be a good measuring stick for a team looking make a playoff run this year.

Men's water polo 50 - 57 Opponents

Four of the team's first five games have been decided by three goals or less. Two of those losses were against L.A. Valley by a total of only 3 goals. The team has a good chance of moving into the black over its next two games, when it plays El Camino and Chaffey over the next two weeks.

Men's soccer is only getting stronger

2009-09-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ruben Gonzaelez scored the go-ahead goal in his first appearance for the Cerritos men's soccer team during the championship game of the Hartnell Tournament. Like a number of his teammates, Gonzalez had previously missed the first four games of the 2009 season due to an injury. His ability to score such a crucial goal in his first game back from injury is just a taste of what may be to come for the Falcons.

To begin the season, the team was without not only Gonzalez, but also All-South Coast Conference team members Stephan Mangu and Rene Hernandez, who have been nursing injuries of their own. Players like Juan Mejia, Cesar Castillo, and Fabian Perez have stepped up in their absence. In those four games, the Falcons went 3-0-1 and outscored their opponents 18 to 4. These kinds of performances up to this point in the season, shows a tremendous amount of depth, character and confidence on the part of Cerritos.

Many teams would be nearly distraught at the thought of going up against top ranked opponents without three of their key players. The Falcons have responded by winning, and doing so in a variety of ways. They recorded a 6-0 shutout against American River, beat Hartnell in a penalty shootout, and came from behind after trailing 1-0 to beat Fresno City College.

Hernandez will join a defence already boasting All-SCC 2nd team member Timmy Seo, while Mangu will partner with National Player of the Year runner-up Luis Gonzalez to spearhead the Falcon attack. The addition of both should only strengthen a team that is already ranked No. 2 in the nation according to the National Soccer Coachers Association of America.

If Gonzalez scored a game winning goal to clinch a championship in his first game back, it is intoxicating to think of what may happen when Hernandez and Mangu make their season debut. Hernandez is expected to play his first game on Friday against Golden West, and Mangu may also be cleared to play.

Former Falcon Vs. 'The Chosen One'

2009-09-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Cerritos alum A.J. Toscano is set to start the biggest game of his young career at Charleston Southern University as the counterpart to college football's biggest name, Tim Tebow. Toscano will lead the Buccaneers into the swamp on Saturday, where they are 73-point underdogs against the No. ranked Gators.

Toscano was quarterback for the Falcon's from 2006 - 2007. As a sophomore he earned 2^nd Team All-Mission Conference honors after passing for 1,446 yards and 15 touchdowns.

The game can seen on Fox Sports Net at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Full Story: It's Toscano vs. Tebow for openers

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves

2009-08-31T14:36:00.000-07:00

This blog is the creation of the Talon Marks sports section at Cerritos College. Here you can find results and updates from the latest games and sports news on campus. There will also be commentary, insights, and thoughts about Cerritos sports that can't be found in the latest edition of Talon Marks. This blog is meant to be interactive, so all comments (that stay within the realm of common courtesy) are always welcome.