Girls gain share of PVL soccer championship

It was "Senior Day" last Thursday afternoon before the pivotal Colfax-Placer girls soccer match played in Colfax as Lady Falcons coach Lefty Wilks honored her six senior players who were playing their last regular season home match.Fittingly, when the whistle blew to start the match between the two playoff bound rivals, it was Colfax's seniors who stepped up and helped make the difference in the Lady Falcons' critical 1-0 win.The end result of the match - which was decided by a spectacular goal from 35 yards out by senior Monet Filteau just seconds before halftime - is that the Lady Falcons traveled to Lincoln Tuesday night with a chance to wrap up a share of the PVL crown.And, in an offensive outburst which featured two goals each by seniors Bradlee DeShane and Sarah Briasco, the Lady Falcons battered the Zebras under the lights, 6-1, to claim a piece of their first ever PVL soccer crown.The championship is the first for the Colfax High girls since the 2001 season when the Lady Falcons won the crown in their last year in the Golden Empire League.Colfax, 19-1-3 overall and 9-1-2 in the PVL, will share the league title with Whitney which edged El Dorado 1-0 on Tuesday.Because Whitney went 1-0-1 against Colfax this season in head-to-head competition, the Wildcats will gain the league's No. 1 playoff seed for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Div. IV playoffs which open next Tuesday.Colfax, meanwhile, will represent the league as the No. 2 team while Placer will be the No. 3 team.The Lady Falcons will open the playoffs on Tuesday when they travel to Antelope to take on Center's Cougars, the second place team from the Capital Valley Conference.Center, paced by senior striker Sarah Welty who has scored 35 goals this season, went 11-2-2 in finishing behind West Campus in the CVC. Colfax has playoff history with Center as the Lady Falcons fell 1-0 to the Cougars in the first round of the 2005 tournament.The Colfax-Center survivor then most likely gets the unenviable task of traveling to Sonora in the second round of the playoffs next Thursday.Sonora, the No. 3 rated team in the nation according to the latest National Soccer Coaches of America's rankings, hosts Placer on Tuesday.In the lower half of the Div. IV bracket, Whitney hosts East Union of Manteca and Sierra of Manteca travels to West Campus.The Div. IV soccer finals are slated for 2 p.m. at Lincoln High in Stockton on Sat. May 19.Getting back to last week's win over Placer, a superb defensive effort by the Lady Falcons' senior trio of Courtney Kerstetter, Shelley Hilton and K.C. Ziebarth helped stymie the Hillmen.Kerstetter and Josie Ruzette also got into the scoring act in the win at Lincoln with one goal apiece while Hilton, DeShane and Katie Van Auker all added assists.Pioneer Valley League Girls Soccer(Final) W L TColfax 9 1 2Whitney 9 1 2Placer 7 3 2El Dorado 5 5 2Lincoln 5 6 1Mesa Verde 1 10 1Bear River 1 11 0Tuesday's Results Colfax 6 Lincoln 1 Whitney 1 El Dorado 0CIF Div. IVSoccer PlayoffsFirst RoundTue. May 15Colfax at Center, 3:30 p.m.Admission: Adults $6, Students $4