Manteca’s boys soccer team has carried its strong start to the season into the two-day Ervin Mendiola Memorial Classico hosted by East Union at Woodward Park.

On Friday, the 4-0-1 Buffaloes started with a scoreless draw with Tokay before mauling Millennium 4-0. They sit at the top of its pool in the gold division and face winless Linden this morning at 9:20 a.m. A win sends them to the championship at 1:20.

Goalie Alberto Gutierrez totaled seven saves Masudi.  in the two shutouts on Friday.

Rogelio Leon scored twice in match 2 victory, and his second-half goal was set up by fellow freshman Kam Masudi. Returning senior standouts Mateo Esparza and Kevin Mundo added one goal apiece. Eli Navarro and Ariel Vega each had an assist.

Also in the gold division, Ripon (2-4-1) split its first two matches with a 2-1 win over Oakdale and a 3-0 loss to Mountain House. The Indians cap pool play today against Lodi at 9:20 a.m.

Premier division

Lathrop (5-0-1) continued its unbeaten start Friday with wins over Valley Oak League opponents.

The Spartans downed Sierra 4-0 before edging out Patterson, 2-1. They play Turlock at 10:40 this morning with a title-match berth on the line.

Five different goal contributors left their marks in the Sierra game. Andres Hurtado-Garcia and freshman Julian Silva both had one goal and one assist. Alex Jauregui and Adrian Montanez each scored once, while Omar Rodriguez had two assists. Julian Ceja came up with three saves

Victor Salvador and Hurtado-Garcia were the goal scorers against Patterson. Rodriguez added one more to his Sac-Joaquin Section-leading assist total (eight). Montanez also had an assist.

Eric Lucatero was in goal for seven saves.

Sierra (1-3) lost its other day 1 match to Turlock, 3-1. The Timberwolves wrap up pool play against Patterson this morning.

Tournament host East Union (4-2-1) dropped its opener to Downey, 3-2. The outcome of the afternoon match with Los Banos was unavailable as of press time. The Lancers next take on McClatchy starting at 10:30 today.