Almaden Resident

Sports

Branham beats Chargers with 3-0 shutout victory

By Greg Lydon

With the first storm of 2008 hammering the Bay Area, local boys and girls soccer teams dealt with less than ideal conditions as they wind down the '07-08 regular season over the next two weeks.

Dealing with swirling winds, on-and-off rain showers and frigid temperatures, players still managed to rise to the occasion across the valley, keeping their respective teams charging hard toward a possible slot in the Central Coast Section playoffs.

In boys action, Branham took care of business against a struggling Leland team in a 3-0 shutout victory at Leland.

Jubenny Gonzalez continued to rack up the assists for the Bruins, tallying three assists as the savvy playmaker recorded a helper on all three Branham scores.

Sanjin Mehic, Shane Hovorka and Matt Kastner scored for Branham as they improved to 5-2-3 in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League, still sitting in third place behind Mt. Pleasant and first place Overfelt.

Leland's rough week continued with a 4-0 defeat against Overfelt, as the Chargers were outscored 7-0 in two rough outings.

Lincoln took one step forward with a big 2-1 road victory over Leigh, but then couldn't continue the hot streak, losing 3-1 to second place Mt. Pleasant.

Heriberto Ceja and Nestor Mora found the back of the net for Lincoln against Leigh, giving them a half-game lead over Leigh in the middle of the pack of the Mt. Hamilton Division.

After the defeat earlier in the week, Leigh bounced back with a 2-0 shutout over Live Oak, keeping hot on the trial of league rival Lincoln.

In West Valley Division play, Silver Creek defeated Prospect 4-2. With three games left in the season, Prospect faces off against Gunderson and Westmont next week. The Panthers are currently 3-7-2 in league play.

In girls action, the weather didn't slow down the Chargers of Leland from dropping home five scores in a 5-0 victory over Piedmont Hills. Scoring machine Sara Cheshrehsa put down a three-spot with a hat trick in the game, while Cristina Farrington and Kimberly Rodriguez also scored for Leland.

Leland's win and a 2-0 Pioneer victory over first-place Leigh, made things a little tighter with only three games to play in the Mt. Hamilton Division.

Leigh is currently 8-3 in league, while Leland is now 7-3-1 moving up one game after last week's action.

Pioneer, who is 6-2-3 in league, received goals from junior midfielder Shannon Righetti and Vera Carlson-Bowen to shut out Leigh and keep the Mustangs' league title hopes alive.

In Santa Teresa Division play, Prospect shut out Andrew Hill 2-0, while Lincoln didn't fare as well, losing 2-0 to Sobrato. Willow Glen blanked Live Oak 1-0 behind the lone goal from junior Kayla Villapando.

Weather permitting, BVAL teams were to wrap up the league season on Feb. 6. Following games on Jan. 29 and 30, a full slate of action is scheduled for Jan. 31 and Feb. 5 for the girls and Feb. 1 and 6 for the boys.

The CCS seeding meeting will be held on Feb. 9 with the section playoffs scheduled to get under way on Feb. 12.