La Cueva Beats Hawks in Shootout

Bears Make All 4 Penalty Kicks

These were the things you needed to know about Saturday’s Class 5A girls state championship soccer game:

Four-for-four.

Back-to-back.

And No. 14.

All of them tilted in favor of the La Cueva Bears.

The strongest 5A rivalry in the state was renewed on a windy and bitingly cold afternoon. After 80 minutes of regulation and another 40 minutes of overtime at the APS Complex, it was La Cueva successfully defending its title, outlasting Volcano Vista 1-0 in a penalty-kick shootout.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure,” said La Cueva co-captain Maggie Sabik, one of 12 seniors. “But that’s what we play for, that pressure. And coming through on it.”

The Bears (17-4) won the shootout 4-2 after two hours of scoreless regulation and OT.

Monica Moleres, Courtney Riley, Anne Fox and, finally, Sabik, were all perfect in PKs, which lasted only four rounds. Four-for-four.

“We were so tired, but we fought so hard to win this,” said Riley, a senior. “Thinking about winning pushed us through.”

Moleres went first in PKs and scored.

Ruth Bruciaga, Volcano’s most dangerous scorer, went first for the Hawks. La Cueva goalkeeper Sam Johnson guessed right, and made the save, deflecting the shot over the crossbar.

“I think I just went with my instincts, and I was able to get there,” Johnson said. “It’s a ton of nerves. But you have to think about each individual shot, not anything else.”

La Cueva had lost a couple of shootouts earlier this season, including one to Volcano Vista in the finals of the metro tournament.

After Moleres, Riley, Fox and Sabik scored.

In the fourth round, trailing 4-2, Volcano’s Hannah Fenske missed the net, ending the game.

“We don’t win shootouts very regularly,” Johnson said. “We’ve been unlucky, so I’m glad we were able to finally finish it.”

This was the third straight year these two have clashed in the finals, with La Cueva taking the last two.

La Cueva won the 14th state title in the program’s history, but this is the first time the Bears have gone back-to-back since 1997-1998. The Bears did not allow a goal in these playoffs.

Volcano Vista (15-7) had a great chance to end it midway through the third overtime. Bruciaga, who scored direct-kick goals from long range the previous two days, lined up another from just outside the 18-yard box.

La Cueva had only a two-person wall.

Bruciaga’s shot banged hard off the crossbar.

“Sometimes soccer is a game of luck and chances,” La Cueva coach Amber Ashcraft said. “Sometimes you run out of chances. Ruth hitting the crossbar? Maybe that was the chance that wasn’t going to fall for them.”

It must also be said that Hawks goalkeeper Jovana Canales made two outstanding saves late in regulation, including one in the final 10 seconds.

“We’ve had our ups and downs, like every team does,” said Sabik. “But there’s nothing like this.”

Said another senior, Shayla Malecki: “It comes down to that mental wall. You just have to push through it. Your mind has so much more power than what you think your body can do.”

— This article appeared on page D6 of the Albuquerque Journal