Local squads reach Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal round
The Sac-Joaquin Section postseason action has heated up, with teams in girls tennis, water polo and boys soccer punching their tickets to the semifinal round.
The sub-section cross-country meet will be held Saturday at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, the Northern California girls golf tournament is slated for Monday at Crazy Horse Ranch in Salinas, and girls volleyball gets underway Tuesday at various home sites.
Boys soccer
Oakdale, Patterson, Pitman and Atwater are each two wins away from a championship banner.
In Division I, Atwater defeated Lincoln-Stockton 1-0 to advance to Wednesday’s showdown with No. 2 Jesuit-Carmichael. In a D-II quarterfinal, Pitman downed Ponderosa 3-1 and will next face top-seeded Rocklin. In D-III, an all-Stanislaus District semifinal is in store between No. 2 Oakdale and No. 3 Patterson.
The Mustangs defeated Rio Americano 1-0 in overtime, the second time in as many playoff games they’ve needed OT to advance, and Patterson was a 1-0 winner over East Union. Weston Ranch and Vista del Lago play in the other D-III semi.
Livingston defeated Sierra 2-1 and will face Galt for the right to play in the D-IV final.
In Division V, Orestimba beat San Juan 2-1 and will face No. 1 Linden in one semi, while Summerville, which needed penalty kicks (6-5) to beat Riverbank 3-2, and Delhi, a 3-0 winner over Escalon, will meet in the other.
Hilmar, which beat Millennium 4-1, faces Encina in one D-VI semifinal, while Gustine, a 3-1 winner over Bradshaw Christian, takes on Delta in the other.
Girls team tennis
A day after Central Catholic beat Pioneer 5-4 to advance to the Division III semifinals, Los Banos, winners of 72 consecutive Western Athletic Conference matches, bested Yuba City 7-2 to earn a date with the Raiders. The Tigers swept the singles matches, with Shirley Liu, Taylor Torongo, Melanie Silva, Kylee Cardoza, Adri Moreno and Kiara Azevedo outscoring their opponents by a combined 72-18. The No. 3 doubles tandem of Brooklyn Garcia and Haley Ballez were 6-3, 6-0 winners.
In the other half of the bracket, Manteca, a 5-4 winner over Central Valley, will take on River City, which cruised past El Capitan 9-0.
In Division I, Del Oro beat Enochs 8-1 and Granite Bay topped Turlock 7-2 to reach the quarterfinal stage.
Girls water polo
El Capitan and Sonora reached the Division III semis with wins Thursday. The Gauchos defeated Oakmont 10-9 and now must now take on No. 1 El Camino. In the other half of the bracket, No. 6 Sonora, which beat Los Banos 19-8 in an outbracket game Tuesday, upset No. 3 Christian Brothers in a game played at Jesuit High in Carmichael. Awaiting the Wildcats is No. 2 Kimball.
In Division I, second-seeded St. Francis defeated No. 7 Enochs 21-3 to end the Eagles’ season.
Boys water polo
In Division I, Gregori and Turlock both won outbracket games, advancing to the round of eight. The Jaguars got nine goals from Christian Britton, and four more from brother Andrew Britton, in a 16-9 win over River City. J.T. Harris (two) and Jeff Runyan had the other goals. It was the first postseason win for the boys water polo team (24-4) in school history.
In another D-I contest, Turlock beat Enochs 16-10 and will play No. 3 Granite Bay.
In D-II, Downey rolled past McNair 23-2 and will play No. 3 Merced in the quarterfinals.
The Knights got six goals from Cody Wickman and five from Brett Dixon. Levi Aaronson added three scores and Michael Romano and Cole Thomas had two apiece.
No. 10 Atwater upset No. 7 Whitney 8-5 and will take on second-seeded St. Mary’s in another quarter.
In Division III outbracket games, Sonora beat Livingston 19-6 and Oakdale topped Bear River 10-8. The sixth-seeded Wildcats took on No. 3 Benicia Friday while Oakdale faced off with No. 2 El Capitan in the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Ripon hosted Christian Brothers in its postseason opener.
This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Local squads reach Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal round."