Boys soccer: Buckeye sails into the 'ship
February 10, 2016 by Jose Garcia, AZPreps365
Buckeye was an emotional mess at halftime and for good reason.
The offensive pressure the boys soccer team applied at the outset was halted by Dysart’s better organized high defensive line. To make matters worse, Dysart’s midfield began to assert itself.
But what really set Buckeye off was allowing a goal with 155 seconds left in the first half.
“We were stressing out,” Buckeye’s Jesus Rodriguez Parra said. “We were mad and thought we were going to lose.”
A trip to the Division IV state championship match was on the line at Millennium High in Goodyear, a neutral site for the state semifinals.
When the stakes are high the best remedy to settle the nerves in soccer are goals. As they’ve done throughout the season, Parra and Manuel Ruiz delivered just what their team ordered.
They each scored two goals in the second half to help send their program to the the ‘ship with a 4-1 victory.
The ‘ship, as the kids like to call it, is a championship game. The wave of first half emotions Buckeye rode before punching its ticket to Saturday’s D-IV final against Pueblo were calmed after inserting Andrew McCumber in the midfield in the second half.
McCumber helped break up Dysart’s attack in the middle.
“That’s why we came back to life again,” Buckeye’s third-year coach Hakeem Disu said.
With Dysart’s midfield struggling to regain control, the speed and play making ability of Parra and Ruiz then retook center stage.
Parra helped set up the first two goals, in the 47th and 56th minutes, by outracing a defender on the right wing.
Ruiz finished off an assist from Alonso Chairez, who received a cross from Ruiz to tie it at 1-1. On the second goal, Parra broke free again to finish off the play on his own.
Ruiz scored his 33rd goal of the season in the 74th minute. The junior didn’t play in Buckeye’s first meeting with Dysart, which Dysart won 1-0.
After Dysart’s goalkeeper came off his line, Parra added his 43rd goal of the year in the final minutes after his chip over the goalkeeper went in.
“We want to put Buckeye on the map,” Parra said. “We want people not to forget about us.”
This year’s Buckeye (14-4) squad already made history by helping its program reach a state boys final for the first time.
But win one more game and the school won’t soon forget these boys.
