Arbor View advanced to the Class 5A state tournament with a 6-2 victory over Western in a Southern Region semifinal Wednesday night. The Aggies, the Mountain League's No. 2 seed, will face top-seeded Palo Verde at noon Saturday for the region title and state seeding. Both teams have qualified for the state tournament, scheduled for Nov. 6-7 at Faith Lutheran.
Senior forward Desmond Guevara led the Aggies with three goals and two assists. He scored twice in the first five minutes, putting Arbor View ahead 2-0, and completed his hat trick later in the match. "Since freshman year, we've been working towards this goal and now I'm a senior, so it's my job to lead us," Guevara said. "It feels good to accomplish the goal I've been wanting since freshman year, and I feel like this is the team to do it."
Western, the No. 4 seed, cut the lead to 2-1 on a Calvin Kilpatrick goal, but Arbor View pulled away after halftime. Guevara assisted on goals by Robert Starbird Jr. and Gavin Garris early in the second half, and Frank Grieco added another score. The Warriors (5-11-3) had upset three-time defending champion Coronado in the quarterfinals.
Coach Robert Starbird praised his team's offensive outburst after recent struggles to score. "We've been struggling scoring lately, but we found it today," Starbird said. "We've been doing good defensively and just not really finding goals lately, but we found them tonight. It was a perfect time to find them." The win marks the program's second trip to a state semifinal, the first coming in 2021 in Class 4A.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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