A midfield cross from El Camino College defender Scott McGraw set up a beautiful touch in the box for freshman forward Marcos Ambriz as he chipped in a shot over Cerritos College’s goalkeeper Jaime Sanchez to give the Warriors a 2-1 lead late in the first half.

The El Camino College Warriors’ men’s soccer team (2-6-5) came out looking to get its first conference win of the season against a tough opponent, the Cerritos College Falcons (4-6-3), on Friday, and defeated the Falcons 4-2.

The Warriors haven’t had a victory since Sept. 11, and have tied five of their last six games. The Cerritos College Falcons came into this game undefeated in South Coast Conference play, and were only one conference win away from taking the top spot.

It didn’t look so good for the Warriors at the start of the game as they conceded a goal in the third minute off of a strike into the top-left corner of the net from Falcons’ forward Nathan Martin to take an early 1-0 lead.

The Warriors kept their heads up as they swiftly responded on the other side of the pitch with a free kick in the eighth minute with a goal from freshman midfielder Christian Lopez, making it a 1-1 tie.

Cerritos put up some nice shots, but El Camino continued to pound the Falcons’ defense late in the first half. A cross from defender McGraw soared over the defense to connect with forward Ambriz in the box for a gentle chip over the goalie, giving the Warriors a 2-1 advantage heading into the second half.

The Warriors maintained the pressure coming into the second half knowing that they needed this win.

“We kept our heads up the whole second half,” sophomore midfielder Ryan Zein said. “Even though we were up, we just kept pushing, (and) we knew that we had to get a win or conference was over.”

Sophomore forward Manuel Paez helped secure the win for the Warriors by dribbling through the defense and creating a shot in the box to give them a 3-1 lead in the 78th minute. Freshman forward Victor Hernandez earned the assist.

Midfielder Jonathan Monreal scored the second goal of the game for the Falcons in the 88th minute, but El Camino proved to be too much for them as the Warriors came out on top with a 4-2 win.

This Warriors received their second victory of the season while handing the Cerritos College Falcons their first conference loss.

“They played like a (tough) team,” Warriors’ coach John Britton said.

With this game out of the way, the Warriors look to prepare for their next matchup.

“We give a good 60-70 minutes and then we drop at the end,” freshman midfielder Andy Marin said. “So I think we need to better that and just keep fighting throughout the whole game.”

The Warriors’ (2-6-5) next game is on the road at Mt. San Antonio College (8-3-2) on Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 4 p.m.

For more stats and info about upcoming games, click here.