With first place out of the picture, Weston Ranch still had a lot to play for last night. Win and finish second in the VOL or lose or tie and finish third. Unfortunately, the Cougars tied Sierra High School 1-1 at Weston Ranch and concluded their VOL play on a sad note. A week ago, the Cougars were in first place, but a loss to East Union and two consecutive ties (Oakdale and Sierra) dropped the Cougars to third, finishing with 27 points.

“It was a bittersweet ending because this was our last official VOL match since we will be playing SJAA starting next year,” head coach Francisco Cisneros told The Prowl.

Alexis Chavez scored the Cougars’ lone goal in the fourth minute with Aaron Silva’s assist. Chavez’s goal was his 16th of the year and the 10th in 11 VOL games.

“Alexis completed an MVP-worthy season,” Cisneros said. “He had 42 total points for us this year.”

Cisneros added, “After losing our left-back in the 68th minute to a second yellow, our guys hung in tough for a 1-1 draw. Marcos Arriaza was huge down the stretch. He ended up with nine saves on a busy night.”

Weston Ranch finished the season 18-4-5 overall and 8-1-3 in the VOL. Now they must wait for the Sac-Joaquin Section pairings to be announced next week for the playoffs that begin next Thursday.