On Saturday morning, the boys varsity soccer team faced Eldorado at the APS Complex.

The game was the last of the round robin before teams would be seeded into brackets.

Eldorado was clearly aware of Albuquerque Academy’s two strong results and came out with a physical game plan. They challenged play all over the field and hoped their size and intensity could throw off the Academy attack.

During the first half, their plan worked. The Academy scored once when an Eldorado defender tried shielding a ball back to the keeper. Charles Touche ’17 slipped in and poked the ball to Owen Keleher ’18 who was all alone in front of the net. Besides that moment, Eldorado earned the more dangerous chances either failing to connect on crosses or seeing shots smothered by Chris Pullen ’18 in net.

The Chargers had been sucked into a loose game, kicking the ball when challenged rather than valuing possession and finding creative ways out of pressure. At halftime the players exhorted each other to put that type of play behind them and to have more intensity and confidence.

Just a few minutes into the half, the Academy played the ball past the Eldorado back line, Charles rounded the last defender and laid a pass across the goal mouth for Jackson Taylor ’19 to slot home. The Academy was starting to possess and connect passes through Eldorado. As they began to attack the goal in waves, the physicality of the game increased. After one tough collision, Charles kept his composure and finished. On another, Lucas Jepsen ’19 had a beautifully headed goal called back due to offsides. The Academy intercepted the resulting free kick, played it ahead to Charles who slipped the ball past the keeper.

Eldorado drooped as the score increased. With just over ten minutes to play, Lucas played the ball ahead to Owen, who had his legs cut out from under him as he jumped and redirected a ball past the keeper and into the net. Back the other direction, a penalty kick foul was called on Chris moments later when he came out to defend a breakaway and collided with the Eldorado attacker. The resulting goal was the first allowed by the Academy all season.

At the final whistle, Albuquerque Academy had won 5-1 and had booked its second straight gold bracket semi-final.

They play an undefeated Sandia High team on Wednesday at 6:30 at the APS Complex.