Sidewinders, Kings soccer head to semis
On Tuesday night, San Luis senior defender Erick Quirarte was kept on the bench to preserve his health and energy. The Sidewinders managed to take down the North High Mustangs without their defensive cornerstone, but the senior was determined to use that extra rest to his advantage. On Saturday afternoon, Quirarte scored his first two goals of the season, a titanic effort propelling San Luis to a 2-0 win to advance to the state semifinals.
“He was huge for us today,” San Luis head coach Jesus Rojas said of Quirarte. “Not only is he a huge contributor, but he gives the rest of the team so much confidence. From the goalie to the forwards, they know that if there’s danger at the back, Erick will be there and he will join the attack as well.”
“He had not scored this season. He was a major part of the clean sheets on defense, but had not had a ton of results on offense until today, which was the perfect time.”
Quirarte scored his first goal of the afternoon from a set piece, this one a chip shot by senior fullback Oscar Mejia from just over 20 yards out, up and to the right from the goalkeeper. Mejia chipped the ball into the box and found Quirarte for a flying header, which he slotted into the back of the net halfway through the first half.
His goal in the second was even more dazzling. In a very similar setup, Mejia chipped the ball into the box, but the ball was cleared by Pinnacle, or so the Pioneers thought. Senior forward Francisco Pina let the ball bounce, before bicycle-kicking the ball high into the air over his head. Perfectly positioned under the ball, Quirarte performed an acrobatic scissor kick, bouncing the ball off the ground and just under the crossbar, past the outstretched gloves of the Pinnacle goalkeeper. The Sidewinders’ bench went ballistic, sprinting to celebrate with Quirarte.
Despite the defender’s outstanding performance, and a solid one by the Sidewinders as a whole, it wasn’t
like their previous playoff drubbings. San Luis only had a handful of shots and just a pair of goals. It might seem discouraging to Rojas and his squad, but San Luis’ head coach was welcoming of the stiff competition.
“We needed a game like this,” Rojas said. “We know that the contests are going to be tight from now on and we needed a match that was going to be close the whole time with very few opportunities for both sides and we had to take advantage of that.”
“In some of our previous games we had a lot of opportunities to score two, three, five goals, but this afternoon we didn’t have too many. We still made our chances count and that’s promising... I heard some rumors from Phoenix coaches that said San Luis hasn’t played anybody talented, today we proved them wrong. These guys practice against some of the best players in the state each day and we know we can reflect that talent in games.”
Next up for the Sidewinders is a semifinal matchup with Brophy in Buckeye. A soccer dynasty based out of Phoenix, Brophy won three straight 6A State Titles between 2018-19 and 2020-21, defeating San Luis in penalty kicks in for that third title. It’s a game that Rojas and his squad are eager to avenge.
“Brophy is probably our biggest rival of the last two to three years,” Rojas said. “Many of my seniors were on the team that lost to Brophy and they haven’t forgotten.”
The Kofa magic continues
Kofa boys soccer is sick with the success bug. After the Kings were given a second chance at life after their Play-in opponent, South Mountain initially beat them, was disqualified, the Kings went on to beat Lake Havasu in penalty kicks. On Saturday against Campo Verde, the magic continued, as the Kings took down the Coyotes 2-1.
“The guys really believe in what they’re doing right now,” head coach Jamie Nicewander said. “They realize this is something special and want to keep it rolling and they are doing an excellent job at it right now.”
With a halftime score of 0-0, the Kings opened up the scoring in the second half with a goal from sophomore striker Andres Anaya via an assist from junior striker Aaron Sullivan.
Next, freshman striker Leo Rodriguez finished up a close opportunity by senior striker Tiernan Nicewander, who was moved to the midfielder in a key adjustment which allowed other players to shine and find the back of the net.
Campo Verde found the net in the final minutes on a penalty kick, but it was not enough to dethrone the Kings.
No. 12 Kofa will play No. 1 Ironwood on Tuesday in the 5A semifinals at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale. With Nicewander at the top of the 5A scoring charts, two Ironwood players occupy the second and third slots, something the Kofa players are eager to tackle.
“There was an audible cheer on the bus when we found out we were going to play Ironwood,” Nicewander said. “It’s an opponent we’ve wanted since the first round and we are excited for the challenge.