Hawks dominate Tempe in state semis
Gila Ridge wins 5-0 against undefeated No. 1 seed
The Gila Ridge boys soccer team will play for a state championship Saturday.
The No. 5 Hawks demolished top-seeded and undefeated Tempe, 5-0, on Wednesday in the semifinals of the 4A State Tournament at Williams Field High School in Gilbert.
And though this will be the first time Gila Ridge has played in a soccer state championship, the players very much followed the old saying in sports: “act like you’ve been there before.”
“It’s a different mood, though,” Gila Ridge coach Corey Semler said over the phone. “It’s not done. Literally, the boys got excited for five seconds and then they got back to business.”
Gila Ridge (12-2-1 AIA) will play the winner of No. 10 Salpointe Catholic vs. No. 3 Cortez on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Gilbert for the 4A title.
Gila Ridge’s onslaught of the Buffaloes (12-1) began just four minutes in on a corner kick. It was a driven, or low corner, and sophomore Evis Fierro, according to Semler, “firsttouched it and blasted it into the net.”
Two minutes later, Arturo Ledezma got the ball from 40 yards away from goal, dribbled past two Tempe defenders, and sent a leftfooted pass to Joel German, who headed in a goal to give Gila Ridge a quick 2-0 lead.
In the 29th minute, Fierro chipped a pass into the box to senior Esteban Franco, who took a shot. Ian Meza followed the deflected save and scored.
Franco scored two goals in the second half to round out the dominant, 5-0 victory in the state semis.
“We’re just peaking at the right time,” Semler said. “The boys won in every facet of the game tonight. We controlled the ball. We were the more physical team. We were the more aggressive team. It’s definitely hard to do it in all phases.”