WINTER SPORTS NOTEBOOK : Soccer’s End a Beginning for Others

Wash the chalk off the football field and give the turf a rest. Take down that volleyball net, and give those cross-country runners the next few months off--fall sports are over.

Winter is the time for basketball . . . but that’s not what this is about.

It’s about all those other sports few people know exist at high schools. The sports for folks with normal thyroids who don’t dribble or spend too much time in the key.

The Boys City Section soccer playoffs begin on Jan. 9 and nothing would make El Camino Real coach Dick Watts happier than for his team to make it there--if they can ever get past the tiebreaker.

The Conquistadores, who spent some time in first-place of the West Valley League, finished the season in third place with a record of 8-3-1. Chatsworth and Granada Hills tied for first in the league.

To get to the playoffs, El Camino had to play North Hollywood in a tiebreaker. North Hollywood placed third in the Western League with a record of 8-3-3.

So Watts and crew played the Huskies on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. But much to the coach’s dismay, the game went through regulation, four five-minute overtimes and had to be called at 4:47 p.m. on account of darkness with both teams deadlocked at 2-2.

“They have a good team,” Watts said of North Hollywood. “We were sort of lucky to tie it up.”

Lucky indeed. North Hollywood had a 2-0 lead going into halftime. El Camino saved themselves in the second half when senior forward Shawn Goldberg fired two goals to keep the Conquistadores in the running. Or maybe that should be in the waiting.

The two teams will try again today at 2:30 at El Camino Real.

The pairings for the City Section boys soccer playoffs will not be completed until after holiday break, according to officials.

Of almost 70 Valley high schools, not one has a field hockey team.

Field hockey, which is listed in the official Southern Section book as a winter sport for girls, is similar to ice hockey, but played on natural turf.

Any Valley resident who wishes to witness such a contest will have to travel to University High in Santa Monica. It happens to be the closest school that sports such an event.

All others will have to wait for the Olympics.