Hawks soccer streak in jeopardy

Second-place CV trails Patterson in WAC standings

Jesus Mendoza and Central Valley will travel across town to face Ceres High today at 5:30 p.m. - photo by DALE BUTLER/The Courier

jmendoza.tiff — Jesus Mendoza and Central Valley will travel across town to face Ceres High today at 5:30 p.m. - photo by DALE BUTLER/The Courier

Central Valley High School's varsity boys soccer team has won six straight league titles since 2008, including four in a row in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Hawks' dominant run could end this season.

Second-place Central Valley lost ground in the WAC standings on Patterson after squandering a two-goals-to-none-lead in a 2-2 tie with fourth-place Livingston on Monday in Ceres.

First-place Patterson (9-1-0, 27 points) currently sits in first place in the conference standings, followed by Central Valley (6-0-3, 21 points), Ceres High (6-3-1, 19 points) and Livingston (4-2-3, 15 points).

"We want to maintain what we've done before in the past, which is to win league," Hawks head coach Omar Leon said. "To be honest, I don't think it's going to happen. We needed to win today for it to be up to us. It's not up to us anymore. Patterson has to lose. I don't think that's going to happen. We've tied way too many times. We've given up too many points."

Ahead 2-0 versus Livingston, Central Valley surrendered a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes.

"It happened so fast," Leon said. "I couldn't believe it. It's very frustrating. We had control of the game. We should have won. We made some mistakes. We got cocky. We can't live in the past. We need to think about the future. Our next opponent is Ceres High."

Juan Martinez and Angel Lopez both scored once for the Bulldogs.

Hawk goalkeeper Ramon Ruiz made seven saves.
Marcos Valencia and Cesar Balderas both scored once for Livingston.

Goalkeeper Emmanuel Moreno tallied 17 saves.

"We created multiple scoring opportunities," Leon said. "We're just not finishing."

Central Valley won a pair of league games last week.

The Hawks defeated the El Capitan Gauchos 6-2 on Wednesday in Merced.

Angel Aguilar led Central Valley with two goals and one assist.

Giovanni Avalos and Gerardo Enriquez both tallied one goal and one assist.

Jorge Bustos and Jose Martine contributed one goal each.

Jesus Sanchez had one assist.

Hawk goalkeeper Adrian Calvo totaled seven saves.

Central Valley shut out Pacheco 4-0 on Oct. 13 in Los Banos.