Queen Creek worked its way up the seeding ladder in this year's Division II state boys soccer tournament. At No. 15 last year not much was expected and the Bulldogs were hammered in the opening round.

Wednesday night was a different matter. The No. 8 Bulldogs surrendered a one-goal lead in the first half, but dominated the second half  for 39 minutes to post a 4-3 victory over Cactus Shadows in a first-round match at Williams Field High School.

Sophomore Jacob Dominguez punched home his 40th goal of the season in the 71st minute to break a 2-2 tie. Six minutes later he assisted on what proved to be the decisive goal. Queen Creek (17-4) advances to face top-seed South Mountain, a 5-1 winner over No. 16 seed Catalina Foothills, in the quarterfinals Saturday at 2 p.m. at South Mountain High. Cactus Shadows (12-5-1) couldn't match Queen Creek's intensity in the second half after putting together a pair of nice goals in the latter half of the first half to snare the lead.

"We tried playing boom ball the first half," Queen Creek coach Mauricio Ramirez said. "We settled down the second half, playing the ball down. We got back to how we play."

Queen Creek got momentum early in the second half. Senior John Poirier, who showed a strong leg in the first half on free kicks, launched  a howitzer shot straight on in the 44th minute from 35 yards out that tied the match at 2.

"That got us momentum," Ramirez said. "Poirier is our secret weapon from outside. Dominguez came on and made plays at the end."

Dominguez, who set a single-season school record for goals in a season recently (36), broke past the defense just inside the left side of the box iin the 71st minute to tally for a 3-2 lead. His cross in the 77th minute was headed in on the right side by Ryan Kottcamp. Cactus Shadows caught Queen Creek in a letdown in the final minute as Nuccio (also two assists on the night) tallied on a breakaway. Kottkamp's header turned out to be needed insurance.

Queen Creek's Chris Curtis scored the match's first goal in the 18th minute on a header off a somersault- throw in from Ian Adams. Cactus Shadows scored in the 23rd and 35th minutes to lead 2-1. Collin Berry got the first one off nice passes from Nuccio and Nick Jackson and leading-scorer Jackson did the honors for the second.

Cactus Shadows (13-4-1) was not the typical No. 9 seed. The Falcons faced five state playoff teams from D-I and D-II this season, posting a 2-4-1 record in those matches. Included in that sample were a pair of 2-1 losses to No. 2 seed Greenway,  a split with No. 11 Notre Dame, and a one-goal loss to D-I Carl Hayden in the semifinals of the prestigious Arizona Soccer Showcase in late December.

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