Central Valley’s varsity boys soccer team had a grueling schedule this past week.

“It was brutal playing four games in six days,” coach Omar Leon said. “Physically, it’s very demanding. There’s no recovery time. There’s no practice.”

The Hawks compiled a 3-1 record.

“It would have been a perfect week if we didn’t lose,” Leon said. “But the kids still gave a great effort.”

Central Valley dropped to second place in the Central California Conference after suffering a hard-fought 1-0 loss at El Capitan.

“It was a good game,” Leon said. “We should have scored at least once or twice,” Leon said.

The Gauchos (10-5-2, 6-1-1) took over sole possession of first place in the CCC.

The Hawks fell to 13-3-3 overall and 6-2-0.

Central Valley goalkeeper Erick Martinez totaled four saves against El Capitan.

“The kids played well even though they were tired from the three prior games,” Leon said. “El Capitan scored on a mistake. There weren’t any clear opportunities up to that point.”

Gerardo Flores tallied four goals and one assist during Central Valley’s 6-1 triumph over Atwater on Thursday in Ceres.

Jesus Yepez added two goals and one assist.

Joel Arellano, Agustin Gutierrez and Isaac Juarez all had one assist.

Hawk goalie Alex Garcia made one save versus the last-place Falcons (7-10-2, 1-5-2).

Central Valley edged host Patterson on Jan. 22.

Flores and Edivaldo Yepez both scored once against the fourth-place Tigers (7-4-3, 2-2-3).

Yepez had one assist.

Martinez totaled four saves.

Central Valley beat Buhach Colony 4-1 in a makeup game on Jan. 21 in Ceres.

Freshman Abel Calvo collected two goals versus the fifth-place Thunder (6-5-2, 2-4-2).

Flores had one goal and one assist.

Juarez had one goal.

Edivaldo Yepez and Yovani Yepez each had one assist.

Martinez made four saves.

Central Valley had four games left on its schedule as of Sunday

The Hawks will play three times this week.

“We can still finish first,” Leon said. “Anything can happen.”