JESUS CANO
Prep2Prep Adult Contributor

February 3, 2020

We are through the first leg of League play for the BVAL. Bad news, the season is almost over. The good news? We get to the most interesting period for BVAL soccer and should expect the best out of these teams.

Girls

The headliner for the entire BVAL is the Thursday night Battle in Brentwood between Heritage and Liberty, in a rematch from a physical match-up three weeks ago, one that ended in a 1-1 draw. Madison Del Prado took care of the scoring for Liberty, but defender Sabrina Rogers rose to the occasion for Heritage with a lethal shot from about 35 yards to earn the tie.

Both teams enter the week with an even league record (6-0-1). During that 1-1 tie, Heritage came into the game with three of its players out with injuries, including starters Taryn Richey and Makeila Yancey. Richey recorded a brace in the Patriots’ 3-0 victory over Freedom last week. The sophomore Yancey is another instrumental player in Heritage’s offense, producing plenty of goals her freshman year and carried on into this season.

“This week is an exciting time for our program,” said Heritage head coach Gary LaFleur. “The student athletes have worked extra hard to put themselves in this position. Liberty and their coaches and players have success every year and will challenge us in every way. Our team is looking forward to that challenge. The team is looking forward to achieving their team goals for the season.”

Liberty hasn’t allowed a goal since that game. Alexis Gutierrez, Del Prado and Kaitlin Carlton have combined for 10 of Liberty’s goals in that span — with Del Prado and Gutierrez having two multi-goal games.

Deer Valley has picked from its awful start to the season, going 2-2-2 in league play.

Boys

It’s a three-team race for the title, with Antioch, Freedom and Pittsburg working hard for the hunt.

It'll go down this week during the East County Clásico as Antioch and Pittsburg will clash Thursday night. It’s been a decade since the Panthers claimed a win over the Pirates. To say they want this win is an understatement.

“This game has been marked on our calendar since the season started,” said Antioch goalkeeper Melvin Morales. “I think we are the better team, in every aspect.”

Pittsburg’s Saul Vasquez has made friends with the back of the net, scoring five goals in his last two appearances.

Freedom bounced back from a winless week, taking down Heritage and Antioch last week. The Falcons were able to dethrone the Panthers from their first place position.

Consistency will be the key for Freedom to repeat another BVAL title. The Falcons suffered ties against Deer Valley and Heritage — which posted the worst records coming into league play — through the first round. The Falcons got through their first hump by beating Heritage 2-1 last week. Now they shift their focus to Liberty Tuesday night. The last meeting between the two resulted in a 5-2 win for Freedom, but the Lions are still hungry for their first league win of the season.