ABQ High boys lead way with five on first two teams
If soccer coaches can adjust formations based on an opponent, then why shouldn’t I have the same freedom?
Today, as the Journal unveils its annual All-Metro high school teams for the 2017 season, you will note a somewhat unusual — some might say antiquated — approach.
With so many gifted forwards in the metro pool, this year’s teams have been arranged in an offensive-minded 4-3-3 alignment.
Boys
State champion Albuquerque High has a pair of first-team selections: senior forward Carlos Gutierrez and senior midfielder Luca Seazzu. Seazzu’s older brother Andrea, a goalkeeper, is a former first-team choice on this list.
State runner-up La Cueva is represented on the first team by senior goalie Anthony Muñoz, senior forward Andres Zanios and senior defender Hunter Esquibel.
St. Pius senior Julian Garcia and Cleveland sophomore Gabriel Legendre join Zanios and Gutierrez up front on the first team.
Through the midfield, Hope Christian senior Edward Oropesa, the Class 4A player of the year from the state champions, and UNM-bound Volcano Vista senior Larsen Rogers comprise the rest of the first-team midfield with Seazzu.
Albuquerque Academy senior Aaron Hill and Cleveland junior Jake Lent-Koop anchor the back line with La Cueva’s Esquibel.
Of the 22 boys on the first and second teams, AHS had five selections, La Cueva four.
Girls
There were an abundance of hair-pulling choices as I tried to separate the first team from the second team. Truthfully, soccer presents me with more worthy All-Metro candidates than any other sport, simply because of the depth of quality athletes at the Class 5A and 4A levels.
Class 6A champion La Cueva has goalkeeper Kat Robinson (University of Pittsburgh), senior forward Karlee Maes (UNM) and senior midfielder Senna Garcia on the first team.
Maes is joined up front by her good friend Lexi Baca of Cibola (another future UNM signee), Cleveland’s Kailey Peña and Eliza Mariner of Albuquerque Academy. All are seniors except Mariner, a junior.
Volcano Vista’s Brianna Martinez, who will sign with Notre Dame and is a member of the country’s U-18 national squad, is on the first team at midfield along with Albuquerque High’s MacKenna Havenor — a club teammate of Maes and Baca who, like her two teammates, will sign with New Mexico.
The back line is also stout, with Sandia junior Hannah Gallegos, Eldorado senior Ariana Armijo and the youngest member of the entire first team, Sandia Prep sophomore Skyler Gee, the 4A player of the year.
How deep was the talent on the girls’ side? One girl who will sign with Michigan State, St. Pius forward Miranda Hart, was on the second team.
The list of second-team choices are paired with this column. I hope we’ve done the metro’s best justice. For an athlete, there is no tougher postseason list to gain inclusion on than this one.