By Eric Terrazas, SGVN
twitter.com/WhittierPreps

WHITTIER – With sole possession of the Del Rio League’s first-place spot at stake on Monday, El Rancho High School’s boys soccer team showed why it was ranked No. 1 in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division 3 poll.

Senior forward Cristian Roldan scored two goals to help lift El Rancho to a 4-0 victory over host California.

Jaime Moreno and Miguel Vilchis also scored for the Dons (18-1-1 overall, 5-0-1 league), who strengthened their hold on first place in the league standings.

“Our kids played well,” El Rancho coach Dominic Picon said. “It’s nice to have a full squad back. It was the first time we played with our main people back since Christmas. Cristian Roldan did a great job stretching their defense.

“We’ve had an up and down season. I know it’s weird to say that with the record we have. We’ve had some inconsistent performances. We fought through the cold and wind (during Monday’s game). All things considered, our kids gave a pretty gritty performance.”

California, which played El Rancho to a 2-2 tie earlier this month, fell to 6-4-3 and 3-1-2.

With the regular season winding down, the Condors hope to finish strong.

“We know it’s getting back to the drawing board and focusing on finishing these last four league games,” California coach Shawn Watts said. “We need to keep our heads up and bounce back.”