SRJC men's, women's soccer teams begin playoffs Saturday

The men's and women's soccer teams from Santa Rosa Junior College will both play in the opening round of the California Community College Athletic Association postseason tournament Saturday.

The sixth-seeded women, who finished 11-4-5 overall and 8-2-5 in the Big 8 Conference to finish third, will host No. 11 seed Clovis at 2 p.m. The ninth-seeded men, who also finished third in the Big 8 with a 4-3-3 conference record and 9-6-4 overall, will travel to Folsom Lake to take on the Big 8 champs who nabbed the No. 8 seed.

The women are coming off a 1-1 tie with Diablo Valley Nov. 10.

Sophomore Kaleigh Alves, who prepped at Middletown High, leads the Bear Cubs with 10 goals on the season, just ahead of sophomore Pricilla Villalobos, a Montgomery grad who has scored nine goals.

Montgomery grad and SRJC freshman Eden Brooker has six goals and Jacky Scharff, a sophomore who was last at Sonoma State, has scored five times.

The men will face a Folsom Lake squad that they beat 1-0 at home Oct. 3 but lost 3-1 on the road on Halloween. Folsom Lake were the Big 8 champions. Kickoff is at 3 p.m.

The Bear Cubs are coming off of a 3-2 home win against Modesto and are led by sophomore Juan Hernandez's seven goals on the season and freshman Logan Ziemer's five. Hernandez is a Piner grad and Ziemer played at Analy.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes and SoundCloud, “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”