SOCCER ROUNDUP : Garfield and Bell Girls Duel to a Scoreless Tie

An inch could have made the difference for the Garfield girls’ soccer team.

That’s how close Bulldog forward Nohemi Gonzalez came to breaking a scoreless tie with Bell Wednesday when she ripped a 15-foot volley from the left flank toward Eagle goalie Rosa Delgado 16 minutes into the match. But the ball hit the goal line and sent up up a small puff of white chalk. Bell’s defense held on to preserve the 0-0 tie at home.

The aggressive Garfield offense outgunned Bell (5-4-3, 5-2-2) in shots on goal, 9-2. The only real danger Bulldog goalie Julissa Medina faced came early in the first half, when Eagle striker Liz Ceja cut through the defense on a breakaway, but blasted the ball wide of the goal.

Bell midfielders Maria Suarez and Yvette Acosta made it tough for Garfield (6-3-1, 6-1-1) to penetrate the defense throughout the game, thwarting several scoring opportunities for the Bulldogs.

Seeking her seventh goal of the season for Garfield, Liz Oyarzabal executed a near-perfect free kick from 30 yards out in the 28th minute. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced in front of an open net, where Aracely Tamayo handled the rebound but aimed her shot right at Delgado, who caught the ball for the save.

In the second half, Gonzalez took advantage of an error when an Eagle defender back-passed the ball to Delgado, leaving the net unattended. Gonzalez got off a shot, but it hit the left goal post and rolled out of bounds.

Delgado made her last of six saves of the game by tipping the ball over the crossbar from a goal attempt from Oyarzabal in the final seconds of the match.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Palisades 3, Belmont 0--The Sentinels (2-9-1, 1-7-1) dropped their third consecutive match Thursday in a Central Conference at Belmont. Belmont’s best chance to score came when midfielder Maria Zavala had a penalty kick go wide right of the goal late in the second half.

In Wednesday’s game, Zavala could not convert on four penalty kick attempts as host Hamilton beat Belmont, 3-0.

Belmont plays host to Venice Monday in its season finale.

San Pedro 10, Fremont 0--The undefeated Pirates (11-0-1, 8-0) overpowered the Pathfinders (1-9, 1-7) Wednesday in a Southeastern Conference match.

BOYS’ SOCCER

Jefferson 3, Roosevelt 2--Jose Vargas led the Democrats (9-2-1, 6-2-1) to victory with two goals in the second half during a Southeastern Conference game Wednesday.

The Roughriders (5-4-2, 3-3-2) went into the second half leading 1-0 after a Jefferson defender made deflected a shot from Cesar Ruiz into the net. Roosevelt’s Salvador Guerrero netted the ball in the 60th minute off a rebound to even the game, but Alfredo Garcia beat the goalie on a personal play to score the winning goal for Jefferson.

Fremont 3, South Gate 2--Striker Juan Monroy scored twice, including the game-winning goal with one minute remaining, to give the Pathfinders (10-0-1, 7-0-1) a Southeastern Conference win over South Gate (4-7, 1-7) on Wednesday.

Ram forward Eric Salazar tied the score in the first half, but Fremont’s Hugo Valencia tallied soon after. Juan Contreras scored South Gate’s second goal in the 60th minute.

Garfield 6, Jordan 2--Jose Gomez scored two of five goals in the second half to lift Garfield (8-2-1, 6-2) from a 2-1 first-half deficit in a Southeastern Conference match on Wednesday.

Garfield’s Mario Garcia scored the first goal in the eighth minute, but Jordan (0-9-2, 0-7-1) came back to score two consecutive goals by Natalio Jasso and Santos Carrio.

Garfield midfielders Hector Villareal, Ricardo Salcedo and Francisco Corona each tallied a goal.

Palisades 2, Manual Arts 1--Selvin Pineda scored Manual Arts’ (9-3, 7-2) only goal on an indirect kick in the second half as the Toilers loss to host Palisades in a Coastal Conference game on Friday.

Manual Arts 6, Hamilton 0--Goalie Francisco Gonzales earned a shutout over powerless Hamilton in a Coastal Conference game on Wednesday.

Manual Arts scored four times in the first half with two goals by David Matheous and one each by Pablo Puga and Raymundo Garcia. Edwin Rivera scored on a goalkeeper error, and Mario Solano tallied the final goal with a shot from close range.

Bell 4, Locke 1--Bell striker Ernesto Serratos scored twice in the first four minutes to lead led his team to a Southeastern Conference victory on Wednesday.

Locke (1-7-3, 1-5-2) scored its only goal in the first half to narrow the margin, but wasn’t able to hold off the Eagles (5-3-2, 5-2-1). Dennis Menjivar and Osvaldo Williams each netted the ball to complete a three-point cushion.

Belmont 2, Lincoln 0--Eric Hernandez scored his third and fourth goals in three games to lead undefeated Belmont (10-0-1, 6-0-1) past visiting Lincoln in a Northern Conference matchup on Wednesday. Hernandez netted his two goals on assists from team captain Henry Mendez and forward Roberto Reyes.

Crenshaw 2, Washington 1--Jose Rene Ortiz scored two goals to lead the Cougars (5-3-1, 4-2-0) in a Southern Pacific Conference match at Crenshaw on Wednesday.

Elio Guzman gave the visiting Generals an early lead on a breakaway goal, but it was to no avail. Before the match, Washington (5-3-3, 4-2-0) had five starters declared ineligible because of poor grades.

Salesian 1, Pius X 0--Junior center forward Octavio Alavarez scored the game’s only goal in Salesian’s (3-0-1) 1-0 shut-out win on Friday.

Salesian 2, Marshall Fundamental 2--Salesian tied Marshall Fundamental in a Thursday game. Alvarez and senior Rudy Sarmiento scored for Salesian.