Lathrop claimed the Premier Championship in the Ervin Mendiola Memorial Classico by defeating Downey 3-0 Saturday in the two-day boys soccer tournament hosted by East Union at Woodward Park.

After a scoreless first half, Diego Alvarez, Andres Hurtado Garcia and Omar Rodriguez each tallied a goal and an assist in the second half.

“The kids were excited,” Spartans coach Alfredo Reynaga said. “It was the first tournament we have won.

“I am very proud the boys. We have worked really hard, and this is something of an accomplishment with still not having Alan Hernandez on our team and having the success we are.”

With the blanking of Downey (6-1), Lathrop gave up just one goal in the tournament. Julian Ceja earning Outstanding Goalie honors. 

Lathrop (7-0-1) started the day with a 1-0 win over Turlock. Rodriguez scored the lone goal off of an assist from Hurtado Garcia.

Tournament host East Union (7-2-1) finished in third place with 4-1 win over Patterson (1-3-3) behind a hat trick from Yandel Gutierrez who won the Golden Boot Award for the tournament with six goals along with three assists.

David Tafolla, Cesar Esquivel and Damian Valencia each assisted Gutierrez and Alex Hernandez added an unassisted goal.

Yandel notched a brace to open the day with a 3-1 win over McClatchy of Sacramento (2-2-2), scoring off assists from Tafolla and Elias Salgado. Valencia posted a goal off of an assist from Alex Hernandez.

Sierra (1-4) lost to Patterson 5-2 in the lone Timberwolves game of the day.

Jose Gonzalez and Aydin Akca each scored a goal for Sierra with Hamzah Niru dishing out an assist.

Gold division

Manteca (4-1-2) finished in fourth place, losing 2-1 to Mountain House (3-2-1) in the third-place game.

Julian Oregel scored the Buffaloes goal off of an assist from Josue Cassis.

Linden (0-5-1) and Manteca played to a 2-2 draw to start the day

Ripon (2-5-2) wrapped up the tournament with a 0-0 draw to Millenium (1-3-5) after losing 1-0 to Lodi (4-2-1).

Junior varsity

Lathrop defeated Los Banos 2-1 on Saturday behind goals by Emiliano Enriquez and Jorge Rueda with an assist by Enriquez.

The Spartans lost to Downey 1-0 and Patterson 2-0 on Friday with both games being scoreless until late in the contests.