by Dennis McCall
Taft Midway Driller
The Cougar women won their Central Valley Conference opener with a 4-0 home victory over College of the Sequoias while the men were on the road in Stockton where they won 3-0 over San Joaquin Delta in a non-conference match.
Both teams are at home today in a doubleheader at the Taft High soccer complex at Tenth and San Emidio streets.
The women will open up things at 1 p.m. when they host West Hills-Lemoore. Taft comes in with a 1-0 conference record and 6-5-1 overall while the Golden Eagles are still looking for their first win of the year. They are 0-1 in the conference and 0-9 overall.
The men take the field at 3 against San Bernardino College in a non-conference match. The Cougars are 9-4-1 while the visitors, who play in the Foothill Conference, come in with a 5-4-6 record.
Carla Salazar had a big day Friday in the win over Sequoias with two goals as a follow-up to the hat trick she had in the Cougars' previous match.
The freshman forward from Bakersfield High scored the ice-breaker moments before the halftime whistle, taking a pass from Arielle Stoyanow.
Seven minutes into the second half sophomore midfielder Stoyanow scored on a pass from freshman Shandy Hopeau.
Salazar found the back of the net again in the 66th minute, getting an assist from Sierra Sagasta to make it 3-0.
Sagasta, a sophomore from Bakersfield High, adding the icing on the victory with an unassisted goal in the 69th minute.
CVC standings:
Fresno 2-0 (11-0-3)
Taft 1-0 (6-5-1)
West Hills 0-1 (0-9-0)
Sequoias 0-2 (4-10-0)
Men cruise
The Cougar men won their fourth match in a row in Stockton. All four were crossover matches with the Big 8 conference.
TC spread the wealth around.
Danny Ortiz scored the opening goal all a pass from Aldahir Perez, who also got the assist on the second goal, which was scored by Daniel Roman.
Steven Bogden put the finishing touches on the scoring when he found the back of the net on a pass from Jesus Vidal.
The win pushed the Cougar record to 9-4-1 overall. Delta saw its record drop to 3-9-3.
Today's foe, San Bernardino, has the unusual distinction of playing six ties. The Wolverines are coming off a two-match winning streak.
The non-leaguer will help tune up the Cougars for a crucial conference match Friday when they host CVC leader West Hills-Lemoore.
The CVC has historically been a tussle between Taft and Fresno but the Eagles are in the catbird's seat at 2-0 (11-5 overall). Taft and Fresno are both 1-1, Fresno's loss come at the hands of the Eagles.