Winners and losers celebrate
Volcano Vista beats Cleveland, but Storm gets district crown
It was a win — and a loss — for Volcano Vista.
It was a loss — and a win — for Cleveland.
A paradox, to be sure, but then this is often the complicated nature of the District 1-6A girls soccer campaign.
Cierra Ramirez’s goal late in the first overtime cemented a 2-1 victory by Volcano Vista over visiting Cleveland on Saturday afternoon. That was the routine part of the equation as the 2017 prep soccer segues from regular season to playoffs.
“It was a big deal for us,” said Ramirez, a junior forward. “A huge deal, actually.”
There was truth in this. The Hawks, a 12 seed in last year’s state tournament and dismissed early from the postseason for the first time in the program’s history, closed a strong regular season with a 13-5 record. And this OT victory was accomplished with their best player, senior forward/midfielder Brianna Martinez, in southern California for a training camp with the U18 national team.
The result also created a three-way logjam for first place in 1-6A among Volcano Vista, Cibola (14-4) and Cleveland (17-2).
The Storm won the tiebreaker — and the district championship — by virtue of a better goal differential (+3) in the head-to-head games with the Hawks (+1) and Cougars (-1). The clincher really was a 4-0 win by Cleveland over Cibola on Oct. 12.
So, just two minutes after Volcano Vista’s players ran onto the field to celebrate the dramatic game-winner, Cleveland’s players followed suit as Storm coach Greg Rusk informed his team that they had still claimed the district title.
“You’d rather not back into it like that,” Rusk said. “But three of the top four teams in the state are in our district.”
Volcano Vista would have had to win Saturday’s game by multiple goals to have the edge in the tiebreaker. But this win was nevertheless important, Hawks coach Samantha Lucero said.
“It’s really gonna fuel the fire for us going forward,” she said.
It is likely that Cleveland, Volcano Vista (which finished second) and Cibola (third) will all receive topfour seeds — along with La Cueva — when the state playoff field is revealed this afternoon.
DISTRICT 1-6A BOYS: Cleveland’s boys defeated visiting Volcano Vista 2-1 in double OT on Saturday, with sophomore forward Gabriel Legendre’s goal in the 92nd minute ending the game and locking down the 1-6A crown for the Storm (12-4-4, 6-1-1).
It is the first district championship in the program’s history, and almost certainly will secure Cleveland a top-four seed, and first-round bye, for the state tournament.