The Provo boys soccer team entered Monday’s non-region home game against Spanish Fork facing the disadvantage of having yet to play a game. The Dons, because they are in Class 3A, had already taken the field (a 7-0 win over Maeser Prep).

The Bulldogs, however, had junior forward Christian Cardoso.

Cardoso kicked off the 2012 season with two quick goals, then later added a third to tally the hat trick. That was all Provo needed as it rolled to the 3-1 victory over Spanish Fork.

“That was a team we beat easily last year but I was impressed by how much better they were,” Cardoso said. “It was good to get the win and start the preseason strong. I was excited to come back out and play soccer.”

The junior forward explained that the first goal came off a deflected shot, while he described the second as a well-executed corner kick.

Those two scores gave the Bulldogs precisely the start they wanted but it also set the stage for the team to get a bit complacent, according to Christian’s father and Provo head coach Cesar Cardoso.

“Those early goals did good things and bad things,” Cesar Cardoso said.

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We’re down to the final week of the penultimate WCHA season. Two teams are still in the hunt for the MacNaughton Cup, and home ice is still on the line for a few teams.

The WCHA’s tiebreaking procedures are thus: 1) Head-to-head competition 2) Most WCHA wins 3) Least goals allowed among tied teams 4) Winning margin in WCHA games

If more than two teams end up tied for the same spot, head-to-head is calculated as either a plus, minus, or even between each tied team, not necessarily the total number of games won or lost. If a team loses a tiebreaker, but other teams are still tied, the losing team does not move on to the next tiebreaker.

Ok, here we go:

1. Minnesota- The Gophers are in the driver’s seat for the MacNaughton, holding a two-point lead on Minnesota-Duluth heading into the last weekend. Three or more points against Wisconsin clinches an outright WCHA regular season title. If Duluth gains two points on Minnesota over the course of the weekend, they would be considered Co-champions. I’m not sure who gets the MacNaughton Cup.

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The intense rivalry between the University of Denver and North Dakota won’t have a chance to simmer when the teams engage in a two-game series at Magness Arena this weekend.

The Pioneers and Fighting Sioux once again are fighting for the same things — jockeying for a home-ice slot in the first round of the league playoffs and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Denver (18-10-4, 13-7-4 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) is third in the league — three points ahead of North Dakota (17-11-3, 13-10-1), which is in a three-way tie for fourth. In the national picture, the Pioneers are tied for 11th in the PairWise Rankings and the Sioux are 14th.

“These two teams mirror each other in so many ways,” DU coach George Gwozdecky said Monday. “Besides home ice for the league playoffs and everything beyond that, both teams have battled through heavy turnover, inconsistency and injuries to get to this point. It should be a great weekend of hockey.”

Each team has four regular-season games remaining. DU needs one victory and a Michigan Tech loss to clinch home-ice advantage for the first-round, best-of-three WCHA playoffs March 9-11. The

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Tuesdays wild-card round in girls water polo was indeed a wild ride for my predictions. I opened with an unimpressive 6-5 record with teams such as Villa Park and Santa Ana making me look silly.

Here are my picks for Wednesdays entire Division 1 first round:

Upper bracket

Corona del Mar def. Villa Park

Dos Pueblos def Mira Costa

Los Alamitos def. Costa Mesa

Foothill def. San Marcos

Lower bracket

Laguna Beach def. Beckman

Santa Barbara def. Edison Big challenge for a talented Edison team to make the long trip to Santa Barbara. The Dons grabbed some much-needed momentum with a victory last week against rival Dos Pueblos. Look for Edison to play hard and make this one close but the Dons advance to face Laguna Beach.

Palos Verdes def.

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Though students are being encouraged more and more to stick with one sport and make it a year-round proposition through private entities, there is one sport that truly is a year-round program just on the high school level itself.

Those who commit to be a member of a high school drill team generally try out in the spring, start learning routines and practicing through much of the rest of the spring and summer and begin performing when the first football game of the year rolls around.

The drill team girls perform all through football and basketball seasons during halftimes all the while practicing and perfecting their competition routines, specifically three for the state competition that happens every year in February.

After most sports’ state competitions the teams are then finished for the year, but drill teams continue to do shows through the end of their basketball seasons, usually a week into March.

Before the season has even ended, the coaches are mentally thinking of new ideas for the next year, looking things up on the Internet and talking to other dancers, trying to come up with something that might put their team over the top in the next state competition.

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Minnesota-Duluth senior forward Jack Connolly picked up 4 points in a weekend sweep of Alabama-Huntsville this past weekend, bringing his total on the season to 40 points through 24 games, and bringing his career point total to 177 points.

That means Connolly is on/close to the pace needed to reach the pretty significant 200 career point plateau. The last player to do so was Michigan’s TJ Hensick in 2006-2007, who finished with 222 points in his four year Michigan career. Nebraska-Omaha’s Scott Parse finished with 197 points that same year. Since then, not many players have come close. St. Cloud’s Garrett Roe had a chance last year, needing 58 points in his final campaign, but only tallied a career-low 36 points for the Huskies. Carter Camper finished his four-year Miami career with 183 points last year.

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