By Justin HAGER

More than a year after the high school sports tournament season came to an abrupt halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Interscholastic Federation – Southern Section (CIF-SS) released the 2021 boys’ and girls’ soccer and girls’ tennis tournament brackets and first-round pairings.

The Falcons girls’ soccer team is the Pacific League champions, finishing the season with an undefeated 7-0 and two full games ahead of number two Burroughs. Kick off of their CIF tournament run was on Wednesday, May 12, just as this paper was going to press, with the Falcons hosting Ayala.

Despite withholding pairings until May 10, first-round action in girls’ tennis also commences on May 12 at 3:30 p.m., with CVHS set to travel Martin Luther King High School to face the number one ranked team in the Big VIII. The Falcons finished the season undefeated in head-to-head matches but the extremely abridged playing season made this year’s CIF tournament anything but certain.

CVHS boys’ soccer finished the regular season nationally ranked (Top 1000 in the USA), and the number two team in the Pacific League. Their only league play loss came to the vaunted Pasadena Bulldogs, which finished the season 8-0 and ranked in the Top 300 in the country.

CVHS kicks off their campaign today, Thursday, May 13, with a match at 5 p.m. at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, California. The Mustangs this year are the number two team in the Big VIII.

Winners of the Southern California sectionals will advance to one-week regional tournaments. However, still battered by COVID, CIF has canceled all northern California regionals. As such, the winners of the Southern California regionals will effectively be the *asterisked* state champions.

The CIF has also canceled the state championships in swim and dive, track and field, and wrestling.

For more information on schedules, brackets and pairings for sectionals, visit https://cifss.org/sports/. The CV Weekly will provide updates on our website, www.cvweekly.com, as they become available.