Campo Verde girls, Sunnyside boys prevail
After shutting out its opponents in two straight matches, Gilbert Campo Verde once again recorded a shutout en route to a 1-0 victory over Goodyear Millennium in the 5A state title match Wednesday night.
Campo Verde scored the only goal in the first five minutes of play, on a header from junior Karisma Hansen.
“It had gotten started with a throwin and it had gotten kicked out, but my midfielder Mia (Duranczyk) dribbled it down to the end line, she had a beautiful cross and I just finished it with the head in the top right corner,” Hansen said.
Shortly after the goal, Hansen was taken out of the game after taking a hard-hit ball to the face. Before returning from an extended stay on the sideline, Hansen said she fought to get back on the field for her teammates.
“I did everything in my power to get back on the field,” Hansen said. “I work for my team and we work for each other and that’s how we win games.”
The teamwork was demonstrated on both sides of the ball as Campo Verde controlled possession for the majority of the first half. Campo Verde shifted to a more defensive approach in the second half where it continued its shutout string behind a few key moves.
“We made some adjustments in the lineup,” Campo Verde head coach Andrew Guarneri said. “We had a freshman and a junior back there. We put some players with a little more pace to them, not saying our other players were doing a poor job, we just needed more pace for some of the matchups we had and it worked out for us.”
The matchup between the two teams was one of underdogs. Campo Verde came in at the five seed after knocking off No. 1 Ironwood Ridge; Millennium was ranked No. 6 after knocking off No. 2 Casteel.
“It means everything,” Hansen said of winning the state title. “We’ve been working for this all season and we couldn’t be happier.”
Cody Whitehouse
Sunnyside wins first 5A boys title
Tucson Sunnyside dethroned defending champion Campo Verde 4-0 in the 5A boys championship match on Wednesday in Scottsdale. It was the first state title for the Blue Devils, who finished the season 24-0-2.
The top-seeded Blue Devils were led by junior midfielder Fabian Mendoza’s two goals, and a goal and assist from Manuel Quiroz. Adrian Virgen added a goal for Sunnyside in the second half.
“We kind of had their game plan down and I think we countered it pretty well from the way that we just played in the back,” Sunnyside coach Casey O’Brien said. “We kind of knew and we just tried to recover and compensate for it.”
The match began as somewhat of a slog but Sunnyside quickly gained momentum. Mendoza scored the match’s first goal off a rebound 23 minutes into the first half. Four minutes later Mendoza scored again, off an assist from Quiroz.
Sunnyside didn’t let up its defensive intensity in the second half, and senior goalkeeper Jesus Gutierrez only need five saves for the clean sheet.
Dana Scott