Clovis North girls win second straight league title

Clovis North captured its second consecutive TRAC championship for girls soccer. (Gabe Camarillo/Clovis Roundup)

Another season, another league title.

For the second consecutive year, the Clovis North girls soccer team captured the TRAC championship with a 1-0 victory over Central High School Tuesday afternoon.

“The TRAC is a very demanding league where any team can win on any given day,” Broncos coach Nick Pappanduros said.

And in that demanding league he speaks of, the Broncos have been a dominant team during the 2019-20 campaign, compiling a record of 18-1-2 overall and 8-1 in league play. The team’s only loss came in a 4-1 defeat to Clovis on Jan. 31.

It’s not hard to see why the Broncos have the record they do. With one game left in the season, the team has scored 19 goals while allowing just eight in TRAC, including five shutouts, good enough for a 0.88 goals against average. Pappanduros attributes much of this season’s success to the players that have been there and done all that before.

“Our veteran leadership has been crucial to our success this season,” he said.

But if the Broncos have their way, this achievement will be just a stepping stone to the next goal: winning a Valley title.

The Broncos came up just short of doing so last season, losing to San Luis Obispo by a score of 2-1 in the championship match.

The loss has proved to be motivation for the Broncos, Pappanduros said.

“Some of our seniors (Bella Taglione, Sydney Smith & Ellie Sandstrom) played in two title games and are hungry to get another opportunity. Our focus now is to make sure everything we do is a complete team effort to push us over the hump. We cannot get comfortable. To win a section title will require every player pulling the rope.”

Michael graduated from Fresno State in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism. During his time at the university, he served as sports and managing editor for The Collegian, Fresno State’s student-run newspaper. In addition to the Clovis Roundup, Michael has written for The Fresno Bee, the Kingsburg Recorder and Selma Enterprise. He has a passion for sports and can be found on the sidelines at local games, bringing the citizens of Clovis the athletics news they deserve.