Thursday, February 14, 2019 - 11:37am By The Leader Staff
Lemoore's Armando Salinas and Nipomo's Carlos Diaz battle for the ball in Wednesday's Div. 2 playoff game which the Tigers won 4-0. Lemoore will host McLane High Friday night in Tiger Stadium.
Lemoore's Armando Salinas and Nipomo's Carlos Diaz battle for the ball in Wednesday's Div. 2 playoff game which the Tigers won 4-0. Lemoore will host McLane High Friday night in Tiger Stadium.
Gary Feinstein/Feinsteinfotos

Lemoore’s vaunted boys’ soccer team took its first step toward a CIF Central Section Division 3 championship when it easily defeated visiting Nipomo High School 4-0 in Tiger Stadium Wednesday night.

The win gives Lemoore another home game on Friday night at 6 p.m., again in Tiger Stadium. The Tigers, 15-5-2, will face McLane High School, a 3-2 winner over Mission Oak High School on Wednesday night.

McLane High, a member of the North Yosemite League, comes into Friday’s game with an overall losing mark at 8-14-1. The Highlanders were 3-6-1 in league play. 

The Tigers struck first Wednesday night in Tiger Stadium when Armando Salinas scored the first two goals, the first a deflection off Chase Garcia's shot at the 16th minute. Just minutes later he made a nice individual move in the box setting up a goal to the right corner of the net.

Midway through the second half, Jackson Fagundes scored on a tap-in on the left side from a Salinas pass to make it 3-0. The final goal came towards the end when Damian Morales scored off a pass from Jalen Chavez.

"McLane should be a good opportunity for us to avenge the loss they gave us last year in the opening round," said Tiger Head Coach Eric Bow. "Our players are ready."