Monroe Gives Huskies Gift

A late slip-up Thursday by the Monroe High boys’ soccer team against North Hollywood resulted in a 2-2 tie and cost the Vikings the chance to finish no worse than second in the Valley Pac-8 Conference.

The result also weakened Monroe’s chance for its first conference title since the 1993-94 season.

Leading North Hollywood, 2-1, with less than 30 seconds to play, Monroe allowed the Huskies’ Heloyt Cervantes to charge into the goalmouth and head in a high pass from Miguel Carbajal.

Monroe (11-2-4, 9-2-3) is tied with Poly for the conference lead and Reseda is in second place. Poly and Reseda each have makeup games today while Monroe has concluded regular season play.

North Hollywood (7-4-3, 7-4-3) appears likely to be the conference’s fourth and final participant in the City Section playoffs.

Thursday, North Hollywood’s Francisco Castaneda opened the scoring 13 minutes into the second half when he connected from five yards out after a corner kick by Theo Arvanitez.

Monroe answered nine minutes later when William Fuentes fed a vertical pass to Daniel Garcia, who tapped the ball in from 10 yards as he, goalkeeper Vartan Hovsepyan and defender Walter Perez went down in a heap.

Three minutes later, Monroe’s Danny Corrales scored on a 20-yard volley of a bouncing ball. The goal was the freshman’s seventh in five games with the team since he emigrated from Costa Rica.

North Hollywood played the game without four injured starters.

In other boys’ soccer games:

San Fernando 3, Cleveland 0--The Tigers’ Northwest Valley Conference victory left them tied with Kennedy for fourth place. The teams meet today at San Fernando. Traditionally, four teams from the conference receive City Section playoff berths.

Simi Valley 3, Newbury Park 0--Mustafah Sawari, Chris Harris and Mark Zerhusen scored in the Marmonte League game at Simi Valley (14-7-2, 7-5-2).

The victory, combined with Westlake’s victory over Camarillo, gave Simi Valley the league’s third and final automatic Southern Section playoff berth behind Thousand Oaks and Royal.

Canyon 5, Burbank 2--Jesus Moreno scored twice in the Foothill League game and the host Cowboys (14-6-1, 7-1-1) claimed their first league crown since winning the 1990-91 Golden League title.

Harvard-Westlake 3, Chaminade 2--Matt Thayer scored in the final minute to assure the Wolverines (16-6, 9-2) of no worse than second place in the Mission League.

Rio Mesa 4, Hueneme 1--David Cervantes scored his 26th and 27th goals in 21 games and the Spartans (14-5-4, 7-4-3) moved into a third-place tie with Buena in the Channel League.

Rio Mesa and Buena meet today at Rio Mesa in a game to determine the league’s third and final automatic Southern Section playoff participant.

St. Bonaventure 4, Fillmore 1--Brian Schweppe scored three times for the visiting Seraphs (6-5-8, 3-3-5) in a Tri-Valley League game.

Bishop Diego, St. Bonaventure and Oak Park, will receive the league’s three automatic Southern Section playoff berths.

Quartz Hill 3, Highland 3--Marty Schielke scored the game’s final goal in the 65th minute, lifting Quartz Hill (12-8-3, 6-1-2) into a first-place tie with Palmdale in the Golden League. Both teams play their final regular season games today.

GIRLS’ SOCCER

La Canada 5, Temple City 0--The Spartans (13-1-1, 6-1-1) clinched their second consecutive Rio Hondo League title by winning at Temple City.

Notre Dame 1, Louisville 0--Lacey Nickerson’s goal with two minutes left secured second place in the Mission League for the host Knights (15-5-3, 6-3-1).

Birmingham 1, Kennedy 0--Errin Smith scored on a free kick with 10 minutes left and the host Braves (13-2-2, 8-0-1) clinched their second consecutive West Valley League title.