Arbor View and Palo Verde will meet at noon Saturday for the Class 5A boys soccer state championship at Faith Lutheran after both teams won semifinal matches Friday night. The Aggies edged Sparks, the North's No. 2 seed, 3-2 on penalty kicks following a 2-2 draw through overtime, while Palo Verde shut out Northern champion Hug 2-0 in the late semifinal.
Arbor View appeared headed for a regulation win while leading 1-0 late, but Sparks forward Yosgar Cruz headed in a tying goal with under five minutes remaining. Cruz then converted a penalty kick after drawing a foul on Aggies goalkeeper Aaden Flores to give Sparks a 2-1 lead as stoppage time began. Arbor View answered when Desmond Guevara headed in his own rebound off a saved penalty kick to force overtime.
Flores stopped Sparks' second and fourth attempts in the shootout, and Beckham Klein converted the decisive fifth kick for Arbor View before a Sparks shot struck the crossbar. "It's surreal," said Flores, with tears in his eyes. "There's no other way to explain it. These boys, I've been with them forever. I love them." Guevara played through an apparent injury and wore a sling on his right arm after the match.
Palo Verde, the South's No. 2 seed, advanced behind second-half goals from O'Brian Vera and Mateo DeCastroverde in a 2-0 win over Hug (15-3-2). The Panthers (17-5-3) lost to Arbor View on penalty kicks in the Southern Region final last week. "My goalkeeper is amazing," Arbor View coach Robert Starbird said. "He's killing it, keeping us in games and winning penalty kick (shootouts) for us. It's unbelievable."
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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