Embarrassed 4-0 by Livingston earlier this season at Bulldog Stadium, Ceres High School's varsity boys soccer team avenged the loss with a 3-1 win on the Wolves' home turf last Wednesday.

"They thought it was going to be a walk in the park," Bulldogs sophomore midfielder Adrian Espinoza said. "We knew we could beat this team by a wide margin. The first game, we didn't play to our full potential. We practiced hard. We're going to keep getting better."

The Bulldogs (4-2-1, 13 points) moved into third place in the Western Athletic Conference.

Livingston (3-2-2, 11 points) dropped to fourth place.

Ceres High and Livingston trail Patterson (6-1-0, 18 points) and four-time WAC champion Central Valley (4-0-2, 14 points) in the league standings.

Espinoza finished with one goal and two assists.

Andres Velasquez and Cristopher Torres both scored once.
Bulldog goalkeeper Martin Reyes totaled six saves.

Ceres High jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening half as Andres headed in Adrian's 25-yard free kick and Espinoza converted an 18-yard free kick into the right corner of the goal.

Torres was mobbed by Bulldog teammates after increasing Ceres High's lead to 3-0 in the second half. Cristopher collected a pass from Adrian and blasted a 20-yard left-footed shot into the left side of the net.

Livingston's Isaak Vera prevented the shutout with less than 15 minutes to play when he blasted a 22-yard left-footed shot into the right side of the goal.

"I'm surprised with the score," Bulldogs head coach Miguel Saldate said. "I was expecting a 2-1 or 2-0 game."

The two teams were assessed a combined nine cards in the second half, including seven yellow and two red.

"Today, we wanted to win," Espinoza said. "That's what we did. We played a solid game, defensively. We pressured the ball. And we finished. This was a very important game for us. We want to climb up the standings. We made a statement."