Robertson nails ‘golden goal’ to beat S.F. Prep
Cardinals knock off reigning champions to claim District 2-1A/4A season title
VEGAS, N.M. — All or nothing. The Las Vegas Robertson boys soccer team had come too far and were too close to a dream realized to simply settle for the easy way out.
Faced with the option of employing a defensive-oriented game plan to force a tie with defending District 2-1A/4A champion Santa Fe Prep and secure the district title or playing for the win, the Cardinals chose the road less traveled. They went at Santa Fe Prep and were rewarded with a 1-0 win in double overtime.
It was the 99th minute — the last minute of the second overtime before the match ended in a deadlock — that perfectly illustrated the mindset of the Cardinals. As head coach Brian Trujillo barked to his team to simply maintain possession and let the clock run out, senior Tonati Aparicio-Blythe took matters into his own hand and fired a shot toward Prep goalkeeper Victor Rios. The ball bounced off of Rios’ chest and Musah Doumbia swooped in to clean up the mess Aparicio-Blythe started by knocking the deflection into the lower left of the net for the “golden goal” and the title.
“I kinda noticed that the goalkeeper was not good at catching the ball,” Doumbia said. “Once [Aparicio-Blythe] made that shot, I decided to make the run in case he punted it out like he did the last time. I came in and he did the same thing and I just tapped it in.”
Doubmia then raced down the right sideline as the Cardinals faithful celebrated and his teammates gave chase before Doumbia was awash in a sea of white jerseys. The finish continued Robertson’s four-year rebuilding project
that saw the program win just three matches when the current crop of seniors were eighth-graders. The Cardinals believed this season would produce their first state-tournament appearance in six years, but it wasn’t until the middle of the season that a district title — the first since 2009 for Robertson — was tangible.
“All my five years here, I never had his opportunity,” Aparicio-Blythe said. “We were never at the top. For me, it was just proving ourselves.”
The moment almost escaped the Cardinals (14-6 overall, 11-1 in 2-1A/4A) on Thursday as they needed to score twice in the final 7 minutes of a district match against St. Michael’s to pull out a 4-3 win. Junior forward T.J. Trujillo said it showed the players what they could do in the most dire of situations.
“We knew we needed that same intensity and passion [against Prep] because we knew they’d be gunning for us to get revenge,” T.J. Trujillo said.
Robertson beat Prep 5-0 a week earlier, and the Blue Griffins’ only chance at a district title was with a win. Meanwhile, the Cardinals only needed a to ensure the district title, but coach Trujillo said playing for the tie was never an option.
“Our attitude was to come out here and fight, every single play,” coach Trujillo said. “Play hard — it’s our style of ball.”
That was clear just 8 minutes into the match as junior forward T.J. Trujillo fired a shot at Rios, but the Blue Griffins senior knocked it away. Five minutes later, Carter Conkle dribbled past his defender on the left flank and his shot inside the penalty box sailed right at Rios.
Prep, which is in the throes of a second round of injuries, showed it wasn’t going to give up the district crown it owned for the previous three seasons easily. Patrick Wilson was inches away from connecting on a Henry Barliant cross in front of the goal in the 22nd minute.
The Blue Griffins (11-5-2, 10-2) almost had a breakthrough in the 67th minute when Harrison Miller took a deep pass over the Robertson defense from Nicky Perillo and his shot was deflected by Cardinals goalkeeper Blaze Payne. The ball bounded toward Miller as he passed the goalie, but Payne reached back for the ball and collected it to stave off the chance.
Payne also had crucial saves on shots by Van Leeson in the 74th minute, and Miller a minute later.
After an uneventful first overtime, the second extra period saw Robertson almost end the affair in the opening minute when Micah Curtis’ header off of T.J. Trujillo’s cross hit the side of the goalpost. Doumbia was there for the rebound, but his sliding shot went over the goal.
It was just a prelude to the Cardinals’ fantastic finish to the regular season. Just don’t consider their checklist finished. The last time a public school won the small-school title was in 2000, when Santa Teresa hammered Albuquerque Sandia Prep in the first year the state ventured into the five-classification system. Since then, the blue trophy belonged to the quartet of Sandia Prep (10 times), Albuquerque Bosque School (three), Santa Fe Prep (twice) and Hope Christian (once).
The Cardinals would love to win the state title.
“I think that would be a shocker to some of the teams out there,” T.J. Trujillo said. “It would be really good for the town and the school.”
It would be the perfect bookend to an allor-nothing season.