Central boys upset El Camino, 3-1

OCEANSIDE — And then there was one. With Southwest falling to West Hills on Friday, the Central Union Spartans are the only boys’ soccer team from the Valley left standing in the CIF-SDS postseason, thanks to their 3-1 road win against Division III one seed El Camino on Friday night.

Ahead of the matchup, Spartan coach Demian Rodiles, expressed confidence in his team’s ability to pull off the upset, noting that “they (El Camino) don’t know anything about us,” and that “anything can happen in the playoffs.”

Rodiles was proven to be a true prophet.

The Spartans conceded a goal in the first half at about minute 15 but had one of their own thanks to a Manuel Ortiz connection (assisted by Vasilios Syrengelas), before the half.

Central was without the services of starting keeper Jose Berlin-Torres for most of the opening period, but backup Nathan Santana managed to hold down the fort pretty well.

Berlin-Torres came back out in the second, and stonewalled the Wildcats the rest of the way with the help of an engaged Spartan defense.

Sebastian Felix gave Central its second goal in the vicinity of minute 50 with Diego Anchondo on the dish. The Spartans concluded the scoring when Syrengelas finished a counterattack — with help from Brandon Lua — that wrong-footed the pressing Wildcats.

Now it’s onto the semis, where the eighth-seeded Spartans will meet fifth-seeded Valhalla, in a game scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m.