Playoffs at Stake for Centaurs Squads

Tuesday begins the final week of regular season play for the winter sports season and everything is on the line for the Culver City High teams. Most of them will be playing for their playoff lives this week and by Saturday each will know for certain whether it will have the chance to compete in post-season competition.

The team with the most to lose and the most to gain is the boys soccer team. Right now, the team is 3-5 in Ocean League play and 6-13-2 overall. That record makes an at-large playoff birth unlikely and the team is currently tied for fourth place in the Ocean League with Morningside. The Centaurs are half a game behind third-place Beverly Hills (3-4-1) and two games behind second-place Hawthorne.

Fortunately for the Centaurs, they get shots at the two teams they need to lose this week. In all likelihood, they will need to win both games to advance to the CIF playoffs, but the boys do control their own destiny. They travel to Hawthorne Tuesday and host Beverly Hills on Friday. The boys lost to Hawthorne 3-2 in January, but beat Beverly Hills 4-3 a week later.

The girls basketball team is also in desperate need of wins this week. Currently, the Centaurs stand alone in third place and are in line for an invitation to the playoffs with a league mark of 5-3. Despite two tough losses last week to first-place Inglewood and second-place Santa Monica, the girls are still in good position. Head coach Julian Anderson said he still feels good about making the playoffs and is confident his team can do it.

The Centaurs will play Hawthorne, which is 0-8 in league play, on Tuesday. If the Centaurs are victorious there, they will play Beverly Hills in a possible win-and-in game for the playoffs on Thursday. Beverly Hills (4-4) is nipping at Culver City’s heels and a letdown by the Centaurs in either game could put a premature end to their season.

Despite opening the season hot and currently holding second place in the Ocean League, the boys basketball team is in a must-win situation this week as well. The team is tied with Morningside, behind league-leader Inglewood. Both Culver City and Morningside are 5-3 in league. The Centaurs also have to worry about surging Santa Monica (4-4), which could jump Culver City if the Centaurs slip.

The boys play at Hawthorne on Tuesday and host Beverly Hills on Thursday. A win against Hawthorne would assure the team of at least third place in the Ocean League, because it owns the tiebreaker over Morningside this year. Should the Centaurs lose they could need a win over heated rival Beverly Hills just to get a shot at the CIF playoffs.

The only team with any breathing room this week is the girls soccer team, which guaranteed itself a playoff appearance with a 3-0 win over Inglewood last week. That win means that Culver City, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica will represent the Ocean League in the playoffs. It’s now just a matter of what order they will be seeded in.

The Centaurs host Hawthorne Tuesday and travel to Beverly Hills on Thursday.