Sports
Centaurs Soccer Kicks into Playoffs
Culver City High's girls team hosts Patriot in the first round Friday.
If momentum means something, the Culver City High School girls soccer team could be a force to contend with in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs, which get underway this week.
The Lady Centaurs ended the regular season with perhaps their most impressive victory all year--a 3-0 triumph over Beverly Hills, which entered the game undefeated in Ocean League play. The win avenged an earlier road defeat to the Normans and catapulted Culver City into second place in league ahead of Santa Monica.
On Monday, the CIF released its playoff pairings and the Lady Centaurs (14-7-1) have a home game in the first round Friday at 3 p.m. against Patriot of Riverside (7-9-7), which finished runner-up to Bloomington in the Sunkist League.
Find out what's happening in Culver Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Lady Warriors and Lady Centaurs have had no common opponents this season. The winner of Friday's opening game will meet either Santa Ana Calvary Chapel or Canyon Springs in the second round Feb. 22. A potential quarterfinal matchup could pit Culver City against No. 4-seeded Torrance.
Also on Culver City's half of the draw is top-seeded Oaks Christian from Westlake Village. Second-seeded L.A. Marymount, which downed the Lady Centaurs 3-1 in a tournament game Jan. 9, is in the lower half of the draw along with No. 3 seed Arlington. Also lurking on the bottom side of the bracket are Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. The league champion Normans host L.A. Baptist in the first round while the third-place Vikings travel to Laguna Beach.
Find out what's happening in Culver Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Lady Centaurs won their final five regular season contests, outscoring the opposition 14-1 in the process. They are 10-1 on home turf, dropping only their season opener to Palos Verdes, 3-2, back in November. Last year, Culver City finished third in league and defeated Fontana Summit 7-2 in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Oaks Christian 2-1 in the second round.
Sophomore forward Hayley Pina is the scoring leader with 12 goals and seven assists (31 points) and freshmen Jasmin Flores has nine goals and six assists. Coach Scott Mair and his squad must defend freshman striker Sierra Carrasco, Patriot's 15-goal scorer.
Culver City's boys squad (4-12-5, 2-7-1) finished fifth in the Ocean League and was not selected for postseason play.
Click here to view the complete CIF-SS girls soccer playoff brackets.
