Rio Grande 0.  Academy. 0

This past week, the varsity boys soccer team completed the rest of the APS Metro Tournament with games against Sandia, Cibola, and Rio Grande.

On Saturday, the boys had a morning tilt against Sandia. After getting beaten badly by Cleveland, and starting to find some ideas against West Mesa, a win would put the team into at least the Silver bracket. Although it was an early morning game, the boys were rested and ready. They still struggled to connect in the final third, but blunted the Sandia attack. Midway through the first half, the Academy kept the ball in the attacking half and there was a sense that a goal was imminent. Sandia stepped in front and blocked a few shots but Gabe Saiz ’21 powered a shot through a crowded penalty box. Goal. Maybe this was the trigger to a more successful attack? Nope. A minute and a half later, Sandia earned a corner kick and the resulting cross found a Sandia player wide open in front of net for an easy goal. In the second half, rain came down, the Academy continued to attack—hitting three posts, but lost when a Sandia forward angled a low cross into the bottom corner. Despite outshooting Sandia 8 shots and 3 posts to 3, with 8 corner kicks, the Academy lost and wound up in the bronze bracket.

On Wednesday, the Academy faced Cibola. Usually a top team in the state, Cibola has a young team this year and they couldn’t keep up with an Academy team that had started to find its touch on the fast turf fields. The onslaught started early and kept up throughout the game. In the fourth minute, Aaron Hill ’19 scored on a corner kick from Chance Harvey ’21. Soon after Aaron scored again, then Kenny Levandoski ’19 scored two, one on a pass behind the defense from Lucas Jepsen ‘19. The energy was contagious and the Academy boys peppered the Cibola keeper with 17 shots. Curtis McNary ’19 playing in the midfield after two years as the starting left defender was eager to score and pressed forward as the game wore on. He tallied his first goal of the year on a beautifully directed header on a cross from Aaron. Aaron closed out the scoring to earn a hat trick. Final score 6-0.

On Friday evening, the boys boarded the bus for a final trip to the APS Complex to face Rio Grande in the bronze group finals (playing for 9^th or 10^th in the field of 16). The team produced its best soccer so far this season, with possession and passing. Rio Grande proved ready for the challenge, remaining organized on defense and featuring a strong goalie who made six saves in the first half. The game ebbed and flowed over the 71 minutes with the Academy controlling the pace of play but with neither team able to break through with a goal. Then a lightning storm passed through and everyone had to leave the facility. After standing around for over an hour, the organizers correctly thinking that deciding 9^th or 10^thplace was less important than allowing the championship—including the Girls Varsity team’s run at history—games to start. The game was called a tie 0-0. While an anti-clamactic finish, it serves as a good symbol for the first quarter of the boys season—a bit unfinished and incomplete.

The boys varsity next plays their first home game, Thursday at 4:00 in Richard Harper Memorial Stadium against Piedra Vista. Their record stands at 2-2-1.