Ceres High’s girls soccer team earned a measure of redemption while competing against crosstown-rival Central Valley this past week.

The Bulldogs and Hawks battled to a scoreless tie in Western Athletic Conference play on May 19 at CUSD Stadium.

Central Valley dominated the first meeting.

Ceres High had 18 shots on goal during the rematch.

“I’m happy because we improved from a 3-1 loss,” Bulldogs’ coach Hannah Menk said. “We had so many opportunities to score. We just couldn’t finish.”

The second-place Bulldogs moved to 5-1-1 in the WAC.

The first-place Hawks moved to 5-1-2 in league.

Central Valley had a one-point lead over Ceres High in the standings as of last Thursday.

The Bulldogs will claim the conference title if they win out and the Hawks lose one of their final two games.

“There’s a lot of talent here in Ceres,” Central Valley head coach Miguel Larranaga said.

“It would be awesome to win back-to-back titles,” Ceres High goalkeeper/forward Jackie Ruiz said. “I hope we can finish strong.”

Ruiz, Ceres High’s top player, enjoyed competing against Central Valley.

She missed the first game because of COVID-19 protocols.

Ruiz started at goalkeeper. She totaled seven saves during the first half.

Ruiz logged playing time at forward in the second half.

She had five shots on goal.

“Every time we play CV, it’s a big game because it’s a rivalry school,” Ruiz said. “We always want to win. I feel like we could have played a lot better. We were forcing things that weren’t there. They did a good job of defending well.”

“It was an even game,” Larranaga said. “They have a good team. I thought we were going to win. We had our chances. We just couldn’t put one in. We were very unlucky.”

Layla Sandoval helped Ceres High preserve the shutout.

She made five saves while splitting playing time at goalkeeper with Ruiz.