TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

At long last, here are rankings of the final winter sport (for wrestling rankings, I'll defer to the excellent site The California Wrestler).

The Fresno area (or, to be more specific, one Fresno-area team, ahem, Buchanan) has dominated Central Section girls soccer for the past five years. That the case again this year? Looks like it a little bit. Good teams abound in Kern County, but right now it's hard to pick one challenger above the rest.

Again, I've included Tuesday results when I could get them.

Central Section girls soccer rankings
1. Fresno-Bullard (14-3-1, 4-0 CMAC, Division I) — The Knights have looked superb and don't figure to be slowed in the weaker of Fresno County's top two leagues. Lynn Williams has racked up an incredible total of 30 goals thus far. Can Bullard get it done in the playoffs?
LAST WEEK: won vs. Fresno-Edison, 8-0; won at No. 11 Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial, 5-1
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. No. 12 Madera; Thursday vs. Sanger

2. Clovis-Buchanan (10-2-2, 5-0 TRAC, Division I) — Forget about who's No. 1, No. 2 or anything else. The Bears are the team to beat until someone gets them in the playoffs. Elise Kreighoff still is around scoring goals (15 of them), though neither she nor Williams scored when the top two teams locked horns in a 0-0 tie. it looks as though Buchanan, which doesn't have lights on its soccer field, might be forced to play a night playoff game for the first time in a while.
LAST WEEK: won at Clovis East, 5-2; won vs. No. 8 Clovis North, 1-0
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. No. 10 Fresno-Central; Friday at Clovis West

3. Liberty (11-5, 5-1 SWYL, Division I) — As usual, the Patriots have hit their stride during league play, and they're now the favorites to take home the first power-league title in Kern County. They also gave Buchanan a good run in a 3-2 loss early in the year. Liberty's one problem? Bakersfield High. The Drillers have accounted for three of the Patriots' five losses.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 7 Stockdale, 2-1; won at Independence, 1-0
THIS WEEK: won Tuesday at Centennial, 2-0; Thursday vs. No. 5 Bakersfield

4. Frontier (14-2-3, 3-1-2 SWYL, Division II) — The Titans halfway got over their Stockdale hump with a draw last week — Frontier's first points against the Mustangs in seven all-time tries — but now they've got to figure out the rest of the league. Liberty has beat Frontier twice, and the Titans lost valuable ground in the league race with another tie, this time to Independence, tonight.
LAST WEEK: won vs. No. 5 Bakersfield, 4-1; tied at No. 7 Stockdale, 1-1
THIS WEEK: tied Tuesday vs. Independence, 2-2; Thursday vs. Centennial

5. Bakersfield (13-3-2, 4-2 SWYL, Division I) — With a 3-1 win tonight, the Drillers earned a split of two league games with Stockdale and kept themselves a serious factor in the league race. Thursday's game against Liberty will be key.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 4 Frontier, 4-1; won vs. Centennial, 1-0
THIS WEEK: won vs. No. 7 Stockdale, 3-1; Thursday at No. 3 Liberty

6. Clovis (14-3-3, 3-1-1 TRAC, Division I) — I pity the Central Section commissioners, who must find a way to seed a Division I bracket that seems as wide open as it could be. Bullard might get the No. 1 seed by default, simply because it'll be an undefeated league champion without an in-section loss. After that, who knows?
LAST WEEK: tied vs. No. 8 Clovis North, 1-1; won vs. Clovis West, 2-1
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Clovis East; Friday vs. No. 10 Fresno-Central

7. Stockdale (9-5-1, 3-2-1 SWYL, Division I) — A week ago, Stockdale could have been in line for a No. 3 — or even No. 2 — ranking. But a loss to Liberty, a draw with Frontier and a 3-1 loss to Bakersfield have the Mustangs reeling in league play for the first time in their 20-year existence. Still a dangerous team in the playoffs, the four-time section runners-up seem very mortal right now.
LAST WEEK: lost at No. 3 Liberty, 2-1; tied No. 4 Frontier, 1-1
THIS WEEK: lost Tuesday at No. 5 Bakersfield, 3-1; Thursday at Independence

8. Clovis North (9-3-5, 2-1-2 TRAC, Division II) — As similarly aged schools, Clovis North and Frontier are developing quite a rivalry in a number of different sports. If things go according to form, they'll meet for the first time in a section championship in girls soccer in about a month.
LAST WEEK: tied at No. 6 Clovis, 1-1; lost at No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan, 1-0
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at Clovis West; Friday at Clovis East

9. Visalia-Central Valley Christian (14-1-2, 7-0 CSL, Division IV) — Your resident small-school powerhouse has gone toe-to-toe in draws with fellow top-10 teams Clovis North and Fresno-Central, and the Cavaliers have ridden Nicole Bouvia's 14 goals to an undefeated record within the section.
LAST WEEK: won at Kingsburg, 2-1; won at Selma, 6-0
THIS WEEK: Tuesday vs. Reedley-Immanuel; Thursday vs. Coalinga

10. Fresno-Central (10-5-2, 2-2-1 TRAC, Division I) — The Grizzlies have proven they can compete with anyone, and they have a number of ties and close losses against top teams to show for it. They also don't really have any bad losses. But they're also still seeking their first really big win.
LAST WEEK: won at Clovis West, 2-1; won vs. Clovis East, 3-1
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at No. 2 Clovis-Buchanan; Friday at No. 6 Clovis

11. Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial (9-3-4, 3-1 CMAC, Division II) — The Panthers are kind of in the same boat as Central: No real bad losses, but no brag-worthy wins, either. They'll get one more shot against Bullard before the season ends.
LAST WEEK: won at Fresno-Sunnyside; lost vs. No. 1 Fresno-Bullard, 5-1
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at Fresno-Edison; Thursday vs. No. 12 Madera

12. Madera (10-7-2, 3-1 CMAC, Division II) — Trivia time: The only Central Section team to knock off Buchanan or Bullard this year is... The Madera Coyotes. Unfortunately for Madera, they're no longer in the TRAC — and their record other than that early-season 2-1 victory against Buchanan isn't anything to write home about.
LAST WEEK: won at Sanger, 2-0; won vs. Fresno-Sunnyside, 3-1
THIS WEEK: Tuesday at No. 1 Fresno-Bullard; Thursday at No. 11 Fresno-San Joaquin Memorial

13. Garces (7-5, 3-0 SEYL, Division II) — This is a much younger team than last year's Division II champions who easily could have staked a claim to one of the section's best teams. However, the Rams are still salty, proven with a quick start to league play after wins against Tulare Union and an overtime loss to Frontier. Wednesday's league showdown with Highland will tell us more.
LAST WEEK: won at North; won at Ridgeview, 3-0
THIS WEEK: Wednesday vs. Highland; Friday at Foothill

14. Tulare Union (13-4, 10-0 EYL, Division I) — The Redskins have already racked up a gaudy league record, but it's important to remember that the EYL will play a 16-game league schedule and that Tulare Union has lost to Clovis North, Garces and CVC when it has stepped up in competition. That will be important come seeding time, because this is a Division I team.
LAST WEEK: won vs. Chavez, 2-0; won vs. Porterville, 5-1
THIS WEEK: won Monday at Porterville-Granite Hills, 3-1; Wednesday at Delano

15. Tulare Western (14-3-1, 8-1 EYL, Division II) — It's certainly plausible to argue the Mustangs should be higher than this; they've beaten Central, and their only in-section losses or ties are defeats to Clovis North and Tulare Union. It's that last one that slots them here, though TW should be a sleeper in the D-II playoffs.
LAST WEEK: won at Porterville-Monache, 4-2; won at Delano, 10-0
THIS WEEK: won Monday vs. Kennedy, 10-0; Wednesday vs. Tulare-Mission Oak

Next 10 (in order): Kingsburg, Liberty-Madera Ranchos, Oakhurst-Yosemite, Clovis West, Tollhouse-Sierra, Highland, Tehachapi, Lemoore, Porterville-Monache, Clovis East