Mt. SAC Wins First-Ever SCC Tournament, 9th Title Last 11 Years

Mt. San Antonio College captured its fourth straight South Coast Conference men's soccer title and ninth in the last 11 years with a 2-1 victory over Cerritos in the 2019 championship final of the first South Coast Conference Tournament held at El Camino College Nov. 15. The game was a matchup of the state's top 2 ranked teams and a meeting of the squads that won each of their respective SCC division crowns from 2016-2018. The conference played as one 9-team league this season.

The Mounties remained undefeated at 18-0-3 as they took a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute on a goal by Ivan Escobar and then the eventual game-winner on a shot by Guilherme Farias in the 30th minute. While Cerritos' Bryan Ortega scored his 15th goal of the season in the 41st minute, Mt. SAC held tight and kept the second-half scoreless for the championship. It is the Mounties' 14th South Coast title, all since 1999.

Mt. SAC had played Cerritos (15-2-4) to a 1-1 tie during round robin play back on Oct. 25. 

In the third place game, Armando Alonzo's goal in the 64th minute was the only score of the game as El Camino defeated East Los Angeles, 1-0. In the fifth place final, Pasadena City's Martin Manzanilla scored at the very end of extra time to edge Rio Hondo, 2-1.

In the seventh place final, LA Harbor made a furious second-half comeback with three goals to erase a Long Beach City 5-2 lead. But while the teams finished in a 5-5 tie, the Vikings redeemed themselves by outscoring the Seahawks, 7-6, in penalty kicks for seventh place. Camaran Badal scored the final PK to end the high-scoring affair.

Final Standings
1. Mt. San Antonio
2. Cerritos
3. El Camino
4. East Los Angeles
5. Pasadena City
6. Rio Hondo
7. Long Beach City
8. LA Harbor
9. Compton (did not qualify for conf. tournament)

SOCAL REGIONAL PLAYOFF SEEDINGS

With the strength of the power points, Mt. SAC earned the #1 seed in the upcoming SoCal Regional Playoffs followed by #2 Cerritos and #4 El Camino as the SCC once again showed its dominance in upper-rated teams.

Unfortunately, the conference had no other teams make the cut in the 16-team field. 

Here is the SoCal Regional Bracket at link:

https://www.cccaasports.org/sports/msoc/2019-20/files/SoCalM.pdf

SCC Statistical Individual Leaders through 2019 regular season

Goals--Kevin Diaz, Cerritos, 15; Bryan Ortega, Cerritos, 15

Assists: Diaz, Cerritos, 13

Points: Diaz, Cerritos, 43

Saves: Oscar Ponce, East LA, 73

Goals Against Average: Alain Hernandez, Mt. SAC, 0.75

Save Percentage: Luis Enciso, Cerritos, .838