Prep boys soccer: Bears, Rams to collide for 5A title Saturday

Last year’s heartache has been attached to the La Cueva Bears like Velcro for 12 months. On Saturday afternoon, they have a chance to write a new ending for themselves.

The top-ranked and top-seeded Bears on Wednesday night advanced to the Class 5A boys state soccer championship game, easily handling No. 5 Hobbs with a 5-1 semifinal victory at the APS Complex.

At 3 p.m. Saturday at the University of New Mexico Soccer Complex, the Bears, who lost last year’s state final to Centennial on a stunning 100th-minute goal, will face No. 3 Rio Rancho. The Rams blanked No. 7 Volcano Vista 2-0 in the other semifinal, also Wednesday night.

No. 1 LA CUEVA 5, No. 5 HOBBS 1: Winston Starr is one of 5A’s bright stars, and his first hat trick of the season carried the night as the Bears (19-1-2) dispatched the Eagles (16-6-1).

La Cueva is chasing its first blue trophy in nine years.

“We’re ready for Saturday,” Bears coach Easy Jimenez said. “We remember last year and we’re gonna make sure that it doesn’t happen again. The boys are focused.”

The Bears were out quickly Wednesday night, with Christian Gerhardt’s goal three minutes in setting the tone.

The first of Starr’s three goals came much later, in the 33rd minute, and he also added second-half goals in the 63rd and 68th minutes. The third goal, the one that finished off the hat trick, was the clincher as it gave the Bears a three-goal lead with only a dozen minutes remaining.

“I think we just came in here with a good mindset,” said Starr, a senior who is the team’s second-leading goal scorer. “We know who we are, and obviously, that showed tonight, and we came in here buzzing.”

Fourteen of La Cueva’s 19 victories are by at least two goals, including a 3-1 win against Rio Rancho on Sept. 3.

“We know there’s not gonna be something like this again,” said Starr. “Pressure is a privilege, and we take that as a chip on our shoulder. … We love the pressure, we love the talk. Being No. 1, it’s hard to stay on top, but I think our heads are good for Saturday.”

Jimenez said much the same thing.

“I’ve got a special group,” he said. “It’s a special group and we’re playing special soccer.”

– James Yodice

No. 3 RIO RANCHO 2, No. 7 VOLCANO VISTA 0: At Rio Rancho, after a hard-fought semifinal match, the Rio Rancho coaches asked their team a question postgame.

“What are you guys doing on Saturday?”

Playing for a state title.

In a down-to-the-wire contest with District 1-5A rival Volcano Vista, the Rams’ second-half surge gave them the 2-0 victory and a trip back to the state championship for the first time since 2020.

“It feels great,” Rams senior striker Tanner Groves said after the match. “Making it to the finals, it’s just so exciting.”

Groves cashed in on the game-sealing score after sophomore Miguel Wong broke the scoring drought in the final 20 minutes of the match.

The Rams punched their ticket, but it didn’t come easy. Volcano Vista, who in PKs in the first round and then double overtime in the quarterfinals, came out with purpose behind a fast-paced attack.

Hawks’ captain McKay Rogers and his fellow midfielders were all over the field, presenting some early work for Rams’ goalkeeper Kenneth Graves, who was stellar in net with a shutout performance.

It would take until the middle of the first half for the Rio Rancho attack to wake up, thanks to Graves and junior Daniel Lovato generating chances.

Rio Rancho won in PKs in the previous round against Centennial, and an extra time scenario was looking more and more likely Wednesday until, with 16 minutes left in regulation, Wong found some open turf to fire off a shot on net.

Off the keeper, off the post, off the keeper, into the net.In a match where neither team could buy a goal, the Rams took the lead on an unfathomable series of bounces. The Rams rode that energy to the finish line.

Now, Rio Rancho will head down to the University of New Mexico on Saturday for a championship meeting with the La Cueva Bears. One more win, and it’ll be the Rams’ second title in the last six seasons.

“Hopefully, we’ll win,” Graves said, before catching himself. “Actually, we will win.”The Rams in 2020 won state that year, although it was the unique pandemic-shortened season.

– Dan Allison, Rio Rancho Observer

Scenes from the New Mexico boys soccer semifinals