DIVISION I-A: Wielgosiak’s last-minute goal lifts Roadrunners past Desert Shields
Tech sophomore Abrana Wielgosiak has trouble recalling a more exhilarating moment in her young soccer career than the one she created Tuesday night at Heritage Park.
A last-minute, match-winning goal in the playoffs can do that to a person.
“It’s unimaginable,” Wielgosiak said. “I feel blessed to be here. I never expected this.”
The Roadrunners, with the help of Wielgosiak’s score and a controversial call, outlasted Cheyenne, 3-2 in a Division I-A Southern Region quarterfinal.
“We’re in a state of excitement,” Tech coach Josh Jones said. “We worked so hard and clinched the division. When we got that first goal, I think we sat back and got too defensive. We finally worked up the last five minutes and said we’ve got to go forward as much as possible in order to get a goal.”
Tech (12-2-1) will play Faith Lutheran in a semifinal at 4 p.m. Thursday.
“We definitely deserved this one,” Wieglosiak said. “We worked hard and we didn’t give up. No matter how much we thought we were going to lose and it was going to end, we didn’t give up.”
And it would be tough to find a more thrilling comeback.
Staring down a 2-1 deficit, Tech scored twice in a six-minute span.
Carla Valle collected a ricochet of teammate Alex Guzman’s corner kick. A bevy of Desert Shields defenders appeared to deflect the ball just as it was crossing the goal line, but officials ruled it a goal to tie the match at 2-2.
“I was looking at Carla and Abrana, hoping they would get their head on it,” Guzman said. “It all worked out.”
In the final minute, Wielgosiak grabbed a deflected free kick outside the box and laced the ball just out of the reach of Cheyenne’s diving goalkeeper.
“It was off a free kick and every one was going for it and it just came rolling to me,” Wielgosiak said. “I knew I had to hit it and I did, and it just went right in.”
The Roadrunners grabbed an early lead in the 17th minute when Guzman dribbled the ball past midfield and fired a blur into the back of the net from roughly 35 yards out.
Cheyenne staged an impressive second-half comeback, scoring twice in a four-minute span on goals by Mackenzie Smith and Adrianna Basin.
“We’re a relatively young team,” Jones said. “Most of the girls haven’t had the experience in the playoffs. We’re a young team, but we’re finally figuring out how to win games.”
Clark 4, Chaparral 3 — Ariana Reyes knocked in the go-ahead goal, her second of the match, in the 74th minute to vault the third-seeded Chargers (9-9) past the Cowboys (11-4-1).
Reyes’ winner came two minutes after Chaparral’s Rosa Martinez tied the score with her third goal of the match.
Darian Gambetta scored the other two goals for Clark.
The Chargers face top-seeded Pahrump Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Faith Lutheran 9, Boulder City 0 — Charlotte Vancura, Kristi Chinn and Emily Neighbors each scored two goals as the Crusaders (14-6-2) flew past the Eagles (8-7-1).
“We played well,” Faith Lutheran coach Steve Morrill said. “The girls were moving the ball really well, and we were aggressive like we wanted to be.”
Kendall Pori, Dani Tharaldson, and Brenna Rohnkohl also scored for the Crusaders.
“We were moving the ball really well and controlling the tempo,” Morrill said. “I’ve told the girls from the get-go that we’ve just got to control the field and if we do that, we’d be successful.”
Christine Rasmussen and Tharaldson each added two assists for Faith Lutheran.
Pahrump Valley 10, Desert Pines 0 — Sydney Sladek, Lexi Smith and Gabrielle Vasquez each had three goals, and the Trojans (18-1) scored seven second-half goals to rout the Jaguars (6-8-3).
Brittany Klenzcar added a goal for Pahrump. Sarah Dennis and Courtney Lindsey each contributed two assists for the Trojans, and Kiaya Nuack registered the shutout.
