Area roundup: High school boys soccer stadings shake out

The Warren High soccer team is now second place in the San Gabriel Valley League after beating Downey High 1-0 Thursday. This crosstown rivalry has become a must-see game with both team’s fans traveling well.

“These guy know each other really well,” Downey coach Marvin Mires said. “They have played together growing up and it shows.”

The familiarity showed during the first half as both teams played with caution, being sure not to make any mistakes.

“We know what they want to do and they know what we want to do,” Mires said. “That’s what makes this rivalry one of the best in Southe Califoia.

Neither team forced things on offense which led to only fours shots on goal in the first half. After the break, both teams were playing the with patience until the Bears were able to score on a set piece, which ended up being the deciding goal. It came when Warren (13-5-2, 5-1-2) senior Richard Garcia scored on a header off of William Heandez’ cross. The goal call upset the Downey (11-8-2, 5-2-1) sideline after because they believed there should’ve been an offsides call.

“Sometimes those moments are all it takes to lose these games,” Mires said. “Warren is a great team and they just were in the right place.”

“I thought it was a bad call but there’s nothing I can do,” Mires added. “Now we just have to go and look to our game against Ghar Monday before we look ahead to Paramount.”

The loss now puts both teams with five wins in league with two games remaining. Warren, CIF Southe Section Division 1 No. 7, will look to build some momentum after the win against Dominguez Monday.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them,” Warren co-coach Karlo Soto said. “Anytime we play them it’s a battle. It came down to a set piece we’ve been working on and we were able to score.”

Soto was proud how his team bounced back and is optimistic about the last two games.

“This was a crosstown rivalry,” Soto said. “High intensity, high energy game and we came out on top. We got the good result for me.”

The San Gabriel Valley League will be decided in the last two games and Bears are hoping to make a move to stay in front of Downey.

“Obviously, we got to worry about ourselves,” Soto said. “One game at a time and one training at a time. We’re going to go into our next game looking for the three points.”

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The Vikings will lo ok to bounce back from the lost when it faces Gahr on Monday.

—Matt Simon

Boys soccer

A seven-game win streak for Bellflower has created a tight race for the Suburban League title and the coveted top-four spot in CIF-SS Division 4.

The No. 5 Buccaneers (15-7-1, 8-2-0) started league play 1-2 with losses to Norwalk and in Artesia. The No. 4 Pioneers (15-4-2, 7-2-0) went on to win their next four league games until Bellflower got payback at home with a 2-0 win.

Bellflower junior Christian Pinzon scored in that game and in 11 others. Pinzon has 19 goals and 12 assists (50 points) this season, which is more than a goal per game.

If both teams win their remaining games they’ll share the Suburban League crown and a tiebreaker will be used to decide the top-seed for the playoffs.

Artesia is at Norwalk Friday and will host Cerritos and Gle next week, while Bellflower will host third-place La Mirada on Tuesday and Mayfair on Thursday.

—JJ Fiddler

Girls soccer

La Mirada, Bellflower and Mayfair all have seven Suburban League wins headed into Friday when the Matadores travel Gle and the Monsoons host Cerritos.

La Mirada (12-4-4, 7-0-2) is ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 4 and is looking to win a fifth straight Suburban League title.

The Matadores hosts Bellflower (12-6-4, 7-1-2) on Tuesday before the Buccaneers travel to No. 6 Mayfair (16-4-3, 7-2-1) on Thursday in the regular-season finale.

—JJ Fiddler

ST. ANTHONY 3, POMONA CATHOLIC 0 >> The Saints (11-5, 6-0 Camino Real League) won their eighth consecutive behind two goals from Alexsis Weiser and one from Holly Buschelman.

Goalkeeper Cassandra Campbell got the shutout for St. Anthony, which will be at St. Paul on Tuesday.

Women’s basketball

Long Beach State stayed hot at home in Walter Pyramid with a 74-71 overtime victory over Cal State Northridge.

The two teams traded runs throughout the game, but it was a Northridge basket by Chaon Fluker that sent the game into overtime tied, 63-63.

High-intensity defense and increased pressure allowed the Beach to get the stops they needed, as they outscored the Matadors 11-8 in the overtime.

“Our press did an excellent job. Our press saved our game,” said 49ers coach Jody Wy about the pressure on defense. “I really liked our intensity in the backcourt. We tued them over 27 times, I just didn’t like the 20 tuovers on our end.”

Aa Kim led the Beach in scoring with 17 points, while Raven Benton had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Long Beach State (17-5, 6-2 Big West) will travel to Hawaii next week.

—Paul Slater

JC baseball

SANTA ANA 8, LONG BEACH CITY COLLEGE 4 >> The Vikings (1-2) collected 11 base hits and led 4-2 after five iings, but ended up leaving 11 men on base as they came up short at home in their second loss in a row.

Santa Ana (3-0) scored twice off LBCC starter Daniel Rocha in the second iing to open the scoring, before the Vikings scored three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to take the lead.

The Dons responded with three runs in the sixth and three in the eighth to take the lead for good.

Gavin Windes (St. John Bosco High) went 3 for 3 with a run and a RBI to lead the Vikings at the plate.

Rocha took the loss for Long Beach, allowing five runs (three eaed) and 10 hits over 5 2/3 iings.

Vikings head coach Casey Crook currently sits at 510 career wins and needs just four more to surpass LBCC all-time leader Joe Hicks.

Long Beach is back in action on Saturday when it travels to Oxnard College for a 1 p.m. nonconference game.

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