SUNNYSIDE 5, SALPOINTE 1

 

USA Today ranked Sunnyside tops in Region IV two weeks ago and Brophy Prep came in at No. 6. The competitive region includes Arizona, Hawaii and California and that led to a national ranking as the third best team in country heading into the season according to the publication.

The Blue Devils captured the 5A Conference championship last year under Casey O’Brien while finishing undefeated at 24-0-2. That squad was led by Manuel Quiroz, and his 39 goals, and Adrian Virgen added 22. Quiroz is now an attacker at Yavapai and Virgen is a midfielder for Pima but the Blue Devils have seemingly moved forward as an even greater force this winter.

Sunnyside is 3-0 at the Brandon Bean Classic hosted by Salpointe and the Blue Devils have outscored their opponents 20-1 along the way and the latest win came against Salpointe Wednesday night.

The Lancers are the returning 4A state champions and the team accounted for one of the ties suffered by the Blue Devils last year but Wolfgang Weber lost 12 seniors to graduation including four of his top five scorers. Still, the Lancers drew first blood Wednesday night.

Typically, host teams stay away from placing a team like Sunnyside in their own pool but Salpointe liked the challenge, especially at an invitational that does not affect power rankings.

Luis Rincon put Salpointe up 1-0 in the 12th minute but Fabian Mendoza tied things up on a penalty kick two minutes later. Mendoza found Adrian Burruel-Valenzuela in the 17th to make it 2-1 and Carlos Frias put Sunnyside up 3-1 in the 44th.

“I think we’re a lot different because we don’t have everything centered around one guy,” O’Brien said. “I can’t even tell where our scoring is going to come from and if I don’t know, then our opponents have no idea. We are deep at all positions.”

Sunnyside was difficult to defend even when teams knew where the scoring was coming from but that threat has been multiplied a few times over. Mendoza scored again to put Sunnyside up 4-1 in the 57th and Antonio Munoz closed out the scoring with a goal in the final moments to make it 5-1.

The Blue Devils will take on Flowing Wells (0-2) Thursday morning to close out pool play and the squad should be the top seed in the playoff bracket on Friday. Salpointe (2-1) is set to play Sahuarita (1-1) Friday night.

(Sunnyside/Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

 

SALPOINTE 9, SUNNYSIDE 0

 

In the girl’s match, Salpointe moved to 3-0 at the Classic and the Lancers have outscored their opponents 16-0 including a 9-0 win over Sunnyside (0-6) Wednesday night.

The Lancers captured the last three 4A championships with current head coach Kelly Pierce in charge of the last two. The Lancers have only lost three games in the last three seasons and one of those losses came to Ironwood Ridge in a double-overtime match in the Brandon Bean final last year. The Nighthawks play in the 5A Conference so a rematch could only happen in bracket play on Friday or Saturday.

Pierce graduated 11 seniors from that championship run including Kate Connelly. Connelly is now a freshman at Seattle University and she led the Lancers with 14 goals last year. Current sophomore Maci Bernier scored 11 goals as a freshman including a goal in the championship game and she has solidified herself as a force this year.

Bernier recorded a hat trick against Sunnyside while Sienna Gonzales and Anissa Fernandez scored two each. Ellie Kearney and Angelina de Leon scored the other two goals. Fernandez added three assists, Gonzales had two and Sydney Lenhart added two more assists.

 

THE BRANDON BEAN

 

34 teams are taking part in the Brandon Bean Kickoff Classic hosted by Salpointe. In all, 18 boys teams and 16 girls teams are competing in four days of pool play with Monday and Tuesday taking place at high schools across Southern Arizona.

The Brandon Bean Classic is held every year to honor a former Salpointe player who passed away in 1992 after an on-field collision at a soccer scrimmage. In addition, the tournament also honors former Lancer Laura Kea who died in an auto accident on her way to a soccer tournament.