Chandler boys soccer coach Sasha Hunter urged his team in pregame to strike first and then play the way they've practiced of late. The message was received.

The seventh-seeded Wolves scored first and last  -- and never trailed -- Thursday in taking a thrilling 3-2 victory over two-time defending champion Brophy in a Division I semifinal at Campo Verde High School.

Chandler (16-1-3) is off to its second title match in school history on Saturday (Feb. 14) when it faces No. 9 Sandra Day O'Connor in a 6:30 contest at Campo Verde HS. Sandra Day eliminated No. 5 Hamilton, 2-1, in the late semifinal. Brophy finished its season 15-3-4 and suffered its only loss to an Arizona opponent. Chandler's only other title appearance was in 1999 and ended in a runner-up finish to Dobson.

"I told our boys if we score first it will be a good hit for us," Hunter said. "You want to be ahead of a team like Brophy. If we could score first then we'd do what we'd been working our butts off in practice doing -- possess, possess, possess."

Chandler did score first -- quicker than they or pretty much anyone could imagine. Brophy was whitstled for a foul in its box as the Broncos Bret Schumacher took down the Wolves' Daniel Corona in the second minute. That sent Chandler senior standout Don Tchilao, an Oregon State signee, to attempt and convert the penalty kick for a 1-0 edge. Tchilao was done scoring for the match, but had a couple assists up his sleeve for later.

"As a freshman he was this little guy on the beach," Hunter said. "Now he's a man who takes charge. He told me today, "Coach, I got you."

Tchilao's first assist was to junior Carter Rumsey. Rumsey took a feed from Tchilao about 10 yards away and worked quickly and effiiciently to gain space and score for a 2-0 lead in the 16th minute..

Chandler's 2-0 advantage was halved two minutes last as Brophy midfielder Michael Peay answeredwith a header to make it 2-1. Peay received a well-delivered corne from Javier Bernaldo. That's the way the first half ended, but there was one more interval of back-to-back scoring to come deciding the contest.

Brophy's comeback resumed in the 53rd minute as Brophy freshman Carter Clemmensen found the back of the net off an assist by Rus Bigege to get the Broncos even for the first time since the second minute.

That tally should have given Chandler something to thnk about -- it didn't. A minute later Tchilao fed senior Cori Ghougassian barreling down the right sideline. Ghougassian pinched in and fired a winner past Brophy keeper Benjamin Liu. Chandler fended off Brophy the final 26 minutes and withstood plenty of heat in the final 10 minutes to survive with the win.

Hunter celebrated the victory as quickly and vociferously as his team did as the final horn sounded.

"This is a great group," Hunter said. "This is my fourth year here.We've got 15 seniors who've worked so hard to help get us where we are."

Hunter now has two games vs. Brophy he won't forget. The first was the state title game in 1994 when he played for Corona del Sol and scored two goals in a 3-0 overtime win over the Broncos. Now he has one as a mentor.

SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR 2, HAMILTON 1: Musa Morris answered a tying tally by the Huskies (16-4-2) in less than a minute midway through the second half on a great individual effort to lift the Eagles (15-2-2) to victory and their first-ever berth in a state soccer title match. Collin Jeambey put SDO up 1-0 with a goal in the 39th minute of the opening half.Jeambey tallied on a header on corner from Jackson Jellah.  Hamilton answered 20 minutes in to the second half on a tally by Jacob Anderson, who headed home a deflection.

Musa took control of an errant pass just inside midfield and manuevered to his left to bury a bullet from about eight yards out. SDO fended off a couple of late chances by Hamilton to eliminate last year's runner-up from the tournament.