SOCCER SHOCKERS
Top-seeded Centennial girls, St. Pius boys go down in high school state quarterfinals
SANTA ANA PUEBLO — The boys 4A soccer bracket was broken open on Wednesday morning courtesy of No. 9 Los Lunas. The Tigers (14-7) capitalized on two first-half defensive errors and shocked top seed St. Pius (16-3) 2-1 in quarterfinal play.
Los Lunas played a high defensive line, baiting St. Pius to launch long balls over the top and betting its defense could thwart the danger.
“We’ve been working a lot on defense,” Los Lunas coach Eric Chavez said. “Playing directly over the top, that’s scary stuff. It could be very helpful and it could be detrimental as well. But if we step we could recover.”
That strategy appeared faulty early after St. Pius sophomore Marcus Garcia slipped behind the Tigers defense to open the scoring at the fourth minute. But Los Lunas answered right back when senior Candelario Ruiz’ speculative long-distance shot was spilled by Sartan senior goalie Zack Kolkmeyer into his own net.
In the 24th minute Kolkmeyer rushed off his line and committed a hand ball just outside the right edge of its penalty area. Sophomore Johnny Resendiz curled the resultant free kick into the top corner to give the Tigers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“That was a good game. I trust this team, it’s about time we get what we deserve,” Resendiz said. “We can win if we keep passion and believe in ourselves.”
The Sartans had trouble sustaining pressure getting caught numerous times by the organized Los Lunas offside trap. St. Pius generated plenty of threatening openings but scuffed the final shot into harmless saves or couldn’t keep shots on frame.
“St. Pius is well coached. They’re a great team,” Chavez said. “We stayed in the same formation all game; we knew they’d have trouble.”
Los Lunas advances to play No. 5 seed Los Alamos (15-6-1) in one semifinal. The Hilltoppers muddled through a stingy No. 4 seed Chaparral to win 1-0. It was a grinding match for both teams with precious few looks at goal. The tight defensive battle was separated by a scramble in front of goal.
Dakota Duran rose first to a deflected cross from the right wing and his header trickled across the line before the Lobos could keep it out. Chaparral thought it had equalized in the second half but the goal was ruled out for offside.
“It was hard to play; they play negative defense with all the midfields dropping,” Duran said. “It wasn’t as smooth as we normally play. (In the semifinals) we’ll have to have sharper touches.”
Los Alamos has won seven of its last eight with the only loss in overtime. The shutout was its fourth straight clean sheet.
At the bottom of the draw, the higher seeds held serve.
The second-seeded Albuquerque Academy (16-4-1) continued its purple patch, with five players scoring one goal each and strolling to a comfortable 9-0 win over No. 10 Aztec (11-8-2).
“We knew we had strength from everywhere,” Academy coach Laney Kolek said. “(That) makes it unpredictable. We can score from anywhere.”
The Chargers have won 11 straight games outscoring opponents 57-3 in that stretch. But despite St. Pius’ loss, Kolek was not trophy gazing just yet. Academy is looking for its third title in four years.
“Any team can lose at this level,” Kolek said. “Soccer can be a wacky sport. It can be a cruel sport that way.”
Academy faces Santa Teresa (16-3-2) in the semifinals after the No. 3-seed struck late against No. 6 seed Taos (15-3-1) through junior super-sub Francisco Zubia. His breakthrough in a 1-0 win came after some wasteful finishing in front of goal from the Desert Warriors. Zubia split the Taos centerbacks and thumped home the winner.
“It’s hard to score, the mentality to score the goal, we had plenty of chances,” Zubia said.
Sophomore Milo Collignon kept his Tigers in the match with some confident goalkeeping, handling crosses and shots cleanly while being smart off his line.
“He had a good game. It’s kind of a keeper tournament right now,” Santa Teresa coach Luis Villalobos said.
Santa Teresa posted its eighth straight shutout and handled several Taos set pieces deliveries into their own penalty area.
“It was a tough week preparing,” senior Bryan Vargas said. “We don’t have the height of other teams. We’re all pretty short Mexicans.”