Academy 2

St. Pius 0

STATE CHAMPS!

On Saturday afternoon, the Albuquerque Academy Boys Varsity Soccer team faced St. Pius X in the 5A State Championship match.

The two teams met in the last game of the regular season with the Academy winning 6-1 on the strength of five goals from Charles Touche ’17 and one from Alex Touche ’17. Despite that result, St. Pius’ young team had shown steady improvement all season and stormed through the tournament from the seventh seed beating several teams by multiple goals.

If the first two days of the tournament had been cold and dominated by very windy conditions, Saturday was bright and sunny, with little wind and the fields a bit wet from the heavy rains the night before.

There is nothing quite like the pageantry of a state championship game. The stands fill early with fans. The color guard marches on the field to present the American flag along with the live singing of the national anthem. The reporters and TV crews record every moment while the teams get announced player by player, standing at mid-field. The Academy’s assistant coach turned to the head coach and answered a question from earlier in the day, “Okay, now I feel the nerves.”

The Academy team also seemed to feel the pressure of the moment as St. Pius had the early run of play and sent the first salvo, a shot blasted high and wide from distance. So much of Albuquerque Academy’s success comes from the midfield. The poor performances early in the season had been erased when Alex, Nick Williams ’18 and Hardy Stone ’18 had formed into a dominant triumvirate in the center of the field. The drawback to their excellence being that they rarely left the field in the two previous games. Slowly, the Academy players found their legs and started playing their preferred possession-based style. Soon St. Pius attacks were being defused in the midfield and the Academy defense was simply cleaning up long balls and restarting the attack.

As the half wore on, the Academy was finding ways forward by switching through the midfield and playing forwards and wings into the corners and then crossing the ball into the middle or trying to combine to get in. During one interchange, Mateo Centenera ’20 was bowled over just outside the penalty box. Charles took the free kick, driving a shot into the defensive wall of St. Pius players. The ball rebounded and Charles drilled a one time left-footed shot into the corner of the net, but the referee had called a foul. One of the players in the wall had, inadvertently, used his arm to knock the ball down. Penalty shot. Charles once again stood ready, planting the shot firmly in the back of the net. With ten minutes left in the half, the Academy had surged in front.

At halftime, the Academy players wanted to play even more cohesively. In the days leading up to the tournament, players had recalled the voluntary workouts during the summer, the intense training sessions, and the countless sprints they had run together. They had sat in a circle and talked about what it meant to them to be part of the team. They took the field for the second half determined to work together for the goal they had set so many months ago.

Again the battle took place in the midfield. St. Pius has a very talented center. When the Academy players were able to put quick pressure on him and make him turn his back, St. Pius ran out of good ideas, when he found time, they would attack through the wings. Similarly, when St. Pius couldn’t contain the connected passing in the midfield, the Academy became very dangerous. Early on in the half, it was clear that the Academy was going to win the midfield and be the more dangerous team. Eighteen minutes in, Nick took a perfect free kick from the edge of the attacking third of the field and Alex headed it home. 2-0.   

From that point on, the play became more direct, with St. Pius desperately trying to create scoring chances and the Academy capitalizing with quick counter attacks. Several breakaways created significant scoring opportunities. On one, Mateo was grabbed by the St. Pius keeper but a foul was somehow called against the Academy forward. With ten minutes left, St. Pius brought extra men into the attack and the Academy responded with a more defensive formation and counted on Ryan O’Malia ’17 to hold the line. Ryan took over the last ten minutes, tipping a rocket over the crossbar, sprinting out to push a dangerous pass wide, calmly knocking down a blast and collecting the rebound. He would keep the clean sheet and the game would end 2-0.

It would be a remarkable day for Albuquerque Academy. The girls soccer team upset St. Pius to win their own championship later in the day. Earlier that morning both cross country teams also won their state championship races. 

The Albuquerque Academy boys team finishes with a record of 19-3-1, scoring 93 goals and allowing 22. They end the season with the #2 ranking in the state according to MaxPreps and the #8 ranking in Region VIII (West) according to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. 

Seniors Alex Touche, Charles Touche, Ryan O’Malia, Alex Esparza, and Paul Devine will be leaving the team.

Alex and Charles have both been on varsity since their freshman year. In that time, the team has a record of 79-9-4, scoring 352 goals while allowing 58. The Academy has won three Academy Invitational Tournaments and been to the finals of the APS Metro tournament. The team has been the top seed in the state tournament each year, reached the finals each year, and won the title the past two years. The team has been ranked as high as #8 in the nation by USA Today. They have never lost to St. Pius X.