SUNSET REGION: Gorman keeps eye on prize while bruising past Arbor View

With less than a minute remaining in his team’s Sunset Region final Saturday, Bishop Gorman boys soccer coach Doug Borgel asked his bench players one question.

“Is this what you want to win?” Borgel asked, implying there might be one — or even two more important matches left on the Gaels’ schedule.

When the final whistle sounded, it was almost impossible to tell the Gaels had won the region.

No big celebration, no shouting. Just business as usual for a team that has won 19 straight matches.

Gorman (20-0-1) dominated play between the whistles en route to a 3-0 win over Arbor View (11-5-5) at Bettye Wilson Park. The Gaels will play Bishop Manogue in a state semifinal Friday at 6 p.m. in Reno.

“We didn’t need a dog pile today. Our goal is to win the state title,” Borgel said. “No disrespect to Arbor View, they played well today, but this isn’t our goal.”

The Gaels, though, played like they wanted it, using a solid defense to keep the Aggies at bay and timely goal-scoring to take full control of the match.

Arbor View managed only two shots on goal, though the Aggies attempted 12 shots as Gorman’s defense kept quality scoring chances to a minimum.

“That’s the most underrated part of our team,” Borgel said. “Our sweeper, Connor Zanoni could go straight to (Major League Soccer).

Our keeper has been solid all year.”

Gorman keeper Jake O’Rourke made only two saves in the shutout, but directed the Gaels’ defense well.

“Our defense just knows how to play,” O’Rourke said. “We’ve just gotten better every game.”

Gorman took a 1-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game when Shane Thompson’s free kick from 20 yards out found its way through the Aggies’ defense.

The Gaels bumped the lead to 2-0 four minutes into the second half when Sean Zaher headed in Fuzzy Orellana’s corner kick.

From there, the Gaels let their defense do the rest of the work.

Arbor View had five shots in the final 35 minutes, but none on goal. The Aggies either fired wide from tough angles or had shots sail over the cross bar.

“We put so much pressure on teams that it really forces them to finish their chances, and when they don’t we seem to punish them,” Borgel said.

The Gaels closed the scoring with less than two minutes remaining when Orellana cleaned up a double-deflection in front of the net.
Gorman won the state title in 2006 and '07, but was eliminated in the semifinals last year.

“We want the state title, and we won’t settle for anything less than that,” Borgel said.