Orange, El Toro Fail to Qualify

Orange and El Toro, Orange County’s top two teams in the preseason boys’ soccer coaches’ poll, failed to qualify for the Southern Section playoffs. Orange, the defending Division II champion, and El Toro finished fourth in their leagues and were hoping for at-large berths when the pairings were announced Monday at the Southern Section office in Cerritos.

But neither Division I nor Division II had room for at-large berths.

Santa Ana (17-0-4), the county’s No. 1-ranked team in the final poll, was seeded second in the Division I playoffs and will play La Puente Nogales (12-10-1) or Arcadia (9-2-11) in Friday’s first round. Second-ranked Mater Dei (19-1-3) was top-seeded in Division II and will open with Loara (8-10-4), the third-place team in the Empire League.

In Division III, Newport Harbor and Servite are the third- and fourth-seeded teams. Newport Harbor (9-3-3), the Sea View League champion, will host Valencia (7-7-5) in the first round. Servite (16-4-4) will host Troy (7-10-3). Orange Lutheran (20-2-2), the Olympic League champion, is seeded fourth in Division IV and will host Santa Fe Springs St. Paul Friday.

Capistrano Valley (16-6-3) hosts Paramount (11-5-3) and Santa Ana Valley (10-5-5) is at Lynwood (11-1-2) in wild-card games Wednesday.