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Bulldogs defeat Hawks, remain atop wac standings
Moreno scores twice in Ceres Highs win over Central Valley
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Justine Vega (19), Cristina Arreola (18) and Ceres Highs varsity girls soccer team defeated crosstown-rival Central Valley 5-1 in Western Athletic Conference play this past week.

Ceres High School's varsity girls soccer team shut out crosstown-rival Central Valley 3-0 at a preseason tournament on March 7.

The Hawks failed in their attempt to exact revenge this past week.

The Bulldogs won the Western Athletic Conference showdown in convincing fashion, 5-1, on Wednesday at Central Valley.

"A win like this is what we need to keep our momentum going," Ceres High sophomore forward Breanna Moreno said. "We thought they were going to come out with more fire especially with the game being played on their home turf. I don't think we expected this outcome. It's really exciting."

First-place Ceres High improved to 4-0-1 in the WAC standings.

Third-place Central Valley dropped to 3-2-0 in conference play.

"We've been working hard and pushing each other at practice," Moreno said. "I don't think anybody could tell who the underclassmen are on the team. Everybody works so hard. There's no weak link. We're like a family. We really get along. Our thing is to try to stay humble."

Moreno collected a game-high two goals versus the Hawks.

Sophomore Cristina Arreola and freshman Miranda Wilds both scored once.

Sophomore Dominique Koeurn tallied one assist.

Bulldog goalkeeper Angelmarie Coral made three saves.

Daisy Ochoa accounted for Central Valley's lone goal.

Down 5-0, Ochoa put back Hawk teammate Evelyn Andrade's penalty-kick attempt, which was blocked by Coral.

Central Valley's Emely Lopez and Stephanie Lopez had six and two saves, respectively, while splitting playing time at goalkeeper.

The Hawks never recovered after falling behind 3-0 early in the second half.

Ochoa fired a shot off the post in the first half. Freshman Laiza Quintero had three shots on goal.


"I'm disappointed we weren't able to execute," Ochoa said. "We felt a lot of pressure with it being on our home turf. Maybe that got in the way with how we played. The most important thing we could have done was to keep our heads up. We lost motivation. We lost our spirit. It was a long wait for the game to end."

"This is the worst game we've played this year," Meshach said. "I thought we were going to do better. We got in our own heads. The other team beat us to the ball over and over again. That was huge."

Central Valley tied Ceres High 2-2 and beat the Bulldogs 1-0 in 2014.

"In the past few years, we've had close games," Ceres High head coach Miguel Saldate said. "Today was our day."

The Bulldogs are trying to secure their first playoff berth since the 1990s.

The Hawks have never participated in the postseason.

"You never really hear about soccer at our school because our win-loss record hasn't been really good over the years," Moreno said. "We're going to get stronger. This year, it's all about the will to win."

Ceres High will play host to Central Valley on April 27 at Bulldog Stadium.

"We're going to have to play smarter," Ochoa said.