Walden Grove Soccer Invitational

Dec. 27-30: Walden Grove & Sahuarita

 

SEMIFINALS: Firday, Dec. 30

Cienega over Flowing Wells (Girls)

Sunnyside 2, Nogales 0 (Boys)

Sahuaro over Tucson (Girls)

Buena over Sabino (Boys)

 

CHAMPIONSHIPS: Friday, Dec. 30

Girls: Cienega 2, Sahuaro 1

Boys: Sunnyside 2, Buena 1

 

Cienega (7-5-1) bounced back from a loss to Tucson on Tuesday to eventually come away with a 2-1 victory over Sahuaro (10-2-3) in the championship of The Grove Invitational held at Walden Grove in Sahuarita.

The Bobcats tied Sahuaro 1-1 on Wednesday during pool play before beating Rio Rico 6-0 on Thursday. Cienega took out Flowing Wells Saturday morning in the semifinal round to set up the rematch with Sahuaro.

The Cougars tied Ironwood Ridge 1-1- on Tuesday, tied Cienega and then beat Walden Grove 2-0 in pool play before knocking off Tucson in the semifinal round.

Cienega senior Gabriella Placencia was awarded the Most Valuable Player trophy after the tournament and she credited the team’s tie to Sahuaro during pool play as a motivational factor.

“It was wild and the soccer Gods were on our side,” the forward explained. “When we tied Sahuaro it opened our eyes to see what we could do. We came out to show them we could play and we are very good at possessions.”

The Bobcats sport six freshmen and three of them started in the final match. The Bobcats controlled the action against Sahuaro in the first half, outscoring the Cougars 10-3 with Mikayla Edris scoring in the 28^th minute and Placencia adding another in the 35^th.

Momentum shifted in the second half with the Cougars forcing the action. Shay McNelly put one in from 30 yards out in the 61^st minute to cut the Bobcat lead in half. McNelly appeared to have tied the match with five minutes left but her goal was disallowed because it came on what was supposed to be an indirect kick. Nevertheless, McNelly’s second shot also came from 30-plus yards away.

On the boy’s side, Sunnyside (14-2-2) won the Grove Invitational for the second year in a row after beating Buena (7-4-1) in the championship match Friday night.

Sunnyside beat Cienega 3-0 on Tuesday, Catalina Foothills 3-0 on Wednesday and lost to Nogales 2-0 to round out pool play on Thursday. The Blue Devils defeated Nogales 2-0 in the semifinal round to set up the match with Buena.

The Colts beat Rio Rico 3-0 on Tuesday, Walden Grove 6-0 on Wednesday and tied Cienega 2-2 on Thursday before beating Sabino in the semifinals Friday morning.

The championship match was played even with David Molina putting Buena up 1-0 in the 28^th minute but the Blue Devils outshot Buena 8-1 in the second half to turn momentum.

Uylsses Torres-Palacios fed Jesus Santacruz on a corner in the 49^th minute to tie the match and then Torres-Palacios put Sunnyside up for good in the 58^th minute.

Jesus “Santa” Santacruz was awarded the MVP trophy for his efforts in the tournament.

“I just want to help my team in any way I can,” Santacruz said. “Defense, offense, whatever my teammates need me to do.”

Sunnyside started last year in much the same fashion but then failed to make the playoffs. Santacruz does not want that to happen again this year.

“We had a great year last year but then we let it go,” Santacruz added. “We are going to take the end more seriously this year.”