Citizen Staff Writer
RODNEY HAAS
sports@tucsoncitizen.com
The Class 4A Kino Region won’t have three girls soccer teams in the final four in the Class 4A Division I state tournament this year like there was in 2008.
But thanks to a 2-1 Sahuaro win over Goodyear Millennium, there will be at least one Kino representative in the state semifinals for the fourth straight year. The Kino’s Flowing Wells plays Catalina Foothills on Saturday, giving the region another potential semifinalist.
“There was just something about them today, right from the beginning the girls were very confident and they felt really good about the game and it showed,” Sahuaro coach Dave Kruszewski said.
Miranda Brower got No. 3 Sahuaro on the board in the 14th minute to set the tone for the Cougars in a game played at Tucson High.
“We’re trying to prove to everybody that we can make it, that we can do this,” Brower said.
Sahuaro took a 2-0 lead on a Briana Simpson header set up by a Dana Hill corner kick in the 58th minute.
Millennium, the No. 6 seed, cut the lead to 2-1 on a Kaitlyn Doescher free kick in the 60th minute. Sahuaro keeper Kara Crawford had 15 saves.
Millennium ends the year at 18-3 while Sahuaro (15-6) advances to the state semifinals, where it plays the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal game between Cave Creek Cactus Shadows and Scottsdale Chaparral.
The semifinal game will be played Wednesday at Tucson High. With a win, Sahuaro would extend the Kino Region streak of having at least one team in a girls soccer title game to three consecutive years.
Sahuaro girls continue Kino Region tradition
MORE GAMES
The Sahuaro girls soccer team (4A-I) was the first Tucson-area team to advance to the state semifinals with its win Friday. Saturday, 11 other area boys and girls soccer teams will try to join the Cougars in the semifinals of their respective state tournaments.