Spartans fall in quarters
L CENTRO — For the past few the Central Union High girls’ soccer program has made school history advancing a bit further each year in the CIF-San Diego Section playoffs.
In 2016, the Spartans defeated Del Lago Academy 3-2 in overtime in a play-in game to reach the first round of the Div. III tourney, a first for the program.
Last season, Central had a high enough seed to host a first-round game, which they won, to advance to the Div. III quarterfinals, another first for the team.
This trend continued onto this season when the Spartans earned the No. 1 seed in the Div. III playoffs after playing to a regular season record of 17-2.
With the top spot, the Spartans earned a firstround bye and automatically advanced to the Friday night’s quarterfinal contest, where they hosted No. 9 Mt. Carmel at Cal Jones Field here.
Unfortunately for the Spartans their history-making season ended here as the visiting Sun Devils went on to defeat Central, 1-0, ending their season.
Both teams shared nearly equal possession of the ball throughout the game, with both also taking their shots on goal and challenging one others’ goal keepers.
While the Spartans may have had a few more shots on goal than the Sun Devils, their efforts were met by a formidable Mt. Carmel keeper and physically imposing defense.
The Spartans end their season with an overall record of 17-3 and a perfect IVL record of 12-0.
Central loses just two players to graduation including starter Arely Pacheco and Stefanie Mancilla.