The 90th Minute

As I wrap up production on my project , I can honestly say that doing this has given me a new appreciation for soccer.

Now I see why it's considered to be the most popular sport in the world.

I spent approximately a month and a half's time getting footage, interviews and doing research for the project.

When I first started attending practices, I was getting a couple of weird looks from the players as if to ask "What's this guy doing here with this camera?" But as the days and weeks progressed, the athletes and coaches became more comfortable around me.

Special thanks goes to men's head coach Benny Artiaga and women's head coach Ruben Gonzalez for letting me get a peak into the life of soccer teams at Cerritos and also for letting ride on the team buses to some of the travel games.

Thanks to the athletes who took the time out to let me interview them;

Women's team:

Monique Cisneros,

Desiree Cardenas,

Liliana Leos,

Corina Villegas and

Yazmin Torres.

Men's team:

Luis Gonzalez,

Alex Munoz,

Jonathan Rivas,

Salvador Melendrez and

Michael Paz.

Thanks to the other athletes and coaches who acknowledged me answered some of my questions.

I hope that the viewers have as much enjoyment from watching my presentation as I did into producing it.

Working the polls

One would think that a team that is ranked as the best in the country would obviously have the top ranking in its own state.

But not in the case of the women's soccer team.

The Falcons have been ranked No. 1 in the National Soccer Coaches of America Association/adidas poll all season long and finished there. Yet, the team finished third in the state, according to California Community College Soccer News

Why and how is this so?

A big reason has to do with power points. Similar to college football's BCS system, the power rankings are given based on the wining percentage of the opponents.

Let's say the Falcons played a team who has a good winning percentage, if they beat it then Cerritos' power points increase. If the Falcons defeat a team who has a losing record, then there's a chance they may lose power points. Strength of scheduling has a lot to do with it as well. Here are the full rules on how power points are calculated.

Another reason for the ranking is that wins and ties are factored into the calculation of the power points. The two teams ahead of the Falcons, Santa Rosa (No. 1) and Ventura (No. 2), have records of 18-2-1 and 17-1-3. Their winning percentages are at 0.8810 and 2.4810 which gives power points of 2.5952 and 2.4810.

Compare the stats of those schools to the Falcons that finished 17-0-4 with a winning percentage of 0.9048 and power ranking of 2.4548.

It appears that ties and losses play a major factor in it. The system is somewhat complicated; with that, it leaves some people happy and others disappointed.

"We're the only team in California to finish the regular season undefeated," said Javier Arellano, Cerritos women's assistant coach. "We should be No. 1 no matter what.

"But the rankings don't really matter, because we prove that we're the top team whenever we're out on the field."

'A hard battle'

Men's soccer head coach Benny Artiaga called this game one of the best he had ever seen on any level and even though I haven't seen that many soccer games in my lifetime, I'll have to agree with him.

I was there to witness Tuesday's 5-4 win over Mt. SAC. It was definitely a thriller with the Mounties scoring two goals in the first half. The Falcons were down 3-1 at halftime.

One of the things that team members were saying was that they were cool under the pressure of facing a potential loss. No one was discouraging the teammates, even after crucial mistakes were made, like missed goals and penalty kicks or goals that sailed through.

"We had every reason to fold. We had every reason to hand the game to Mt. SAC," Artiaga told the team after the win. "But this win is a true test of what this team can do. There's nothing that we can't overcome."

Forward Luis Gonzalez was the spark plug needed to rally the team. He scored the last three goals.

His foot must have been like a cannon, because he was able to kick with so much power. The ball just sailed through the net when he kicked those goals. The game proved why he leads the team in scoring.

"It was a hard battle. All of our teammates left everything on the field," Gonzalez said. "Even though we were down, we knew the game wasn't over. At halftime in the huddle, We were all confident . We did what the coaches told us to do and we came out with the win."

He threw the team in for a slight worry, because he went down twice in the game. The first time he was hit pretty hard. He was able to walk to the sideline and walk it off in order to stay in the game. The second time he went down he said that he caught a cramp.

Stephan Mongu would have made the score 6-4, after faking out a couple of players and moving the goalie, he had a clear shot at the goal. But one of the field players went into the goal and blocked it with his head.

I'm glad I was able to attend this game, which was a pivital point for the men's team this season.

Another chance

An amazing factor about doing projects like these are the people that you meet. Every character has his or her own story to tell. However, some are more compelling than others.

I got a chance to hear that of Chris Lekavich (pictured) during a men's soccer practice session.

He is the Falcons' goalkeepers' trainer and has been working with Cerritos for two years. He also gives private lessons and works with teams all across Southern California.

Our conversation was sporuted by my project. I was looking for a soccer ball to shoot and he recommended that I take a picture of a ball that was used in the 1987 World Cup. He also showed me a soccer magazine that had some amazing photos.

Somewhere between that, he ended up giving me a mini bio which was very captivating.

He played at Golden West College, but at that time soccer wasn't his main priority. "I was more into chasing girls and doing drugs," he said.

From there he went to the Marines to get, what he calls, his "attitude realigned." While serving, he played in some of the highest levels of military soccer,including the All Marine Corps Team.

After his tenure in the military, he played two years at Cal State Fullerton. But an encounter would change not only his career, but his life as a whole.

"A lady used me as her mirror while she was doing her eye-liner," he said half-jokingly.

The accident left him with three ruptured disks and pretty much ended his playing days. He then decided to get into coaching and training.

He feels that he can give players a point of view that sometimes other coaches don't. He wants players to give them the discipline he didn't have early on.

"I try to help goalkeepers and give them the advantage that I didn't have. I give them their own personal trainer that's played at a higher level and knows what it takes to play there," he said.

"(I want to)get them not just (physically) fit, but make it so that they fully understand the game."

Soccer players play other sports too....sort of

While attending practices, one of the interesting things I noticed were some of the exercises used to help players with technique.

After the players finished stretching and running, they would break off and play games which were variations on different sports. For instance, the men played a game based on kickball/baseball while the women played a game based on tennis.

Even though they're taking on other sports, they put of touch of soccer in it. So their hands were used very minimally, if at all.

"These warm-ups are used to help the players work on their first touch and individual technique," said Raul Ruiz, men's assistant coach.

It was also cool to see the athletes have fun, even during something as serious as practice. These players are just as competitive in practice sessions against each other as they are in the games.

Here's footage of the teams playing these other sports the soccer way.