The Railroaders went on the road Saturday and played South Tahoe to a 1-1 tie—their third draw in their last four games.
Sparks moved to 14-1-4, 10-0-4 and now sits just one point ahead of Elko for first place in the DI-A North with two games to play. South Tahoe, which is in third place, moved to 7-1-6, 7-1-6.
“The boys played very hard,” Sparks coach Frank Avilla said. “(We) had our chances to put it away.”
Brandon Paz put Sparks up 1-0 in the 36th minute with an assist from Alexis Medina.
The 1-0 lead held until South Tahoe knotted the match with a penalty kick in the second half.
The Railroaders close the season this week at home against Dayton (4-10-4, 2-9-3) on Tuesday and at Lowry (7-6-3, 6-4-3) on Friday. They clinch the league title with a pair of wins.
Cougars shut out by league champs
By Ty Pimienta, reporting intern
Spanish Springs fell to 5-6-4, 5-6-4 with a 3-0 loss on Saturday at North Valleys (15-5-1, 12-3-1), which has already clinched the league title.
“It was a very disappointing performance today,” Spanish Springs coach Winston Mora said. “I know we could do better but we just didn’t come out and show what we could do today.”
Kevin Carrillo scored the Panthers’ first goal in the 14th minute. Albert Lopez stretched the lead to 2-0 that lasted through the half.
North Valleys’ Jose Contreras scored off the back of a Spanish Springs player in the 61st minute to account for the final goal of the afternoon.
“It was a good performance, it was a really solid performance,” North Valleys coach Erik Martinez said. “Being that we already had got division … we’re a little bit more comfortable, more at ease.”
Spanish Springs puts the regular season to bed on Wednesday at home against Reed. First touch is at 7 p.m.
Reed downs Reno
By Shyene Joubert, reporting intern
The Raiders improved to 3-10-2, 3-10-2 with a 3-1 home win over Reno on Saturday. The Huskies fell to is 3-11-3, 2-10-3.
One of Reed’s senior captains, Kevin McPartland, scored a goal late in the first half and senior Alex Reyes scored eighteen minutes into the second half.
Another Reed senior, Walter Ordonez, added a second-half goal, removing any chance for the Huskies to comeback.
Despite the win, Reed is still on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.
“Unfortunately, we are not where we want to be in terms of (league standing),” Reed coach Joel Martinez said. “But today—on senior day—we were able to go out and get the win.”
Reno got on the board in the 62 minute on a Tanner Peterson’s penalty kick.
“We played a hard game,” Reno coach H.J. Menchaca said. “We were fighting for the playoffs, but we came up short. My hat’s off to Reed.”
Reed wraps up the regular season at Spanish Springs on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“We want to get the victory, especially since this is a big rivalry game,” Martinez said. “(At the very least) we want to affect Spanish Springs’ momentum.”
Leave a Reply