By Gabrielle Mercer 

Anthem Prep defeated Tanque Verde in a suspenseful girls soccer Division IV state championship game at Williams Field High Saturday afternoon.

Anthem Prep (14-2) finished its season on a seven game winning streak by beating Tanque Verde 4-1. Both teams were able to keep the ball out of their goals for most of the first half until freshman forward Georgia Vallery of Anthem Prep scored the first goal with 1:35 left in the half.

Vallery’s head coach, Robin Meelhuysen, said she was confident going into the second half, which got off to a similar start.

But Anthem Prep was able to keep the ball on its opponent’s end of the field for the majority of the high scoring second half. Anthem Prep had three goals in the second half, scored by Vallery, freshman forward Makayla Roe and senior forward Mae Symmonds.

“It was nerve-wracking because I knew they were going to come in really hard,” Vallery said. “They wanted it really bad, but luckily we came back and got three more.”

Tanque Verde was able to get a goal during the end of the second half, making the final score 4-1.

Despite the tough loss, Tanque Verde head coach Shana Olayvar was in good spirits after the game.

“I’m hoping we’ll be back here again,” she said. “It was a good game by both teams and you win some you lose some. That’s why you play sports.”

Olayvar’s team ended its season with a 14-5-1 record.

“I’m hoping for more girls to come out (next season) and to keep building the program and to make it a championship program,” Meelhuysen said.

Pueblo wins 1^st title

Pueblo defeated Buckeye in the Division IV boys soccer state championship game Saturday at Williams Field High School.

Pueblo, which won its first ever soccer championship, finished its season with a 15-3 record, beating Buckeye 2-1.

Forward Efren Robles scored Pueblo’s first goal just before the end of the first half.

“I felt like I lifted my team up,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a while. I’m speechless. There’s no way to explain the feeling.”

The low amount of shots on goal from both teams resulted in only a 1-0 score going into the second half of play. Buckeye head coach Hakeem Disu could be heard from the other side of the field during his halftime talk with his team.

“It’s unfortunate we came up short today,” Disu said. “I give (Pueblo) a lot of credit. We’ll come out stronger next year.”

Although Buckeye came out just as aggressive in the second half, it was quickly shut down by Pueblo’s defense.

Pueblo increased its lead when forward Luis Hernandez scored his team’s second goal in the middle of the second half.

Buckeye scored its lone goal at the very end of the game, making the score 2-1.

Despite the late goal, Pueblo was able to hold on.  

“I’m very proud of how the team played, Pueblo coach Michael Wylie said. “I’m glad I have the opportunity to work with these players.”

Gabrielle Mercer is a sports journalism student at Arizona State University.