Volcano Vista (in PKs), plus AHS and Hope boys advance in state soccer

This is frequently what distinguishes one soccer team from the next during a state tournament shootout: the observational skills of a goalkeeper.

So it was for senior Devin Eberle, who was between the posts Wednesday for the Volcano Vista Hawks.

The seventh-seeded Hawks and visiting 10th-seeded Atrisco Heritage needed penalties in this Class 5A boys state soccer first-rounder, and the first four rounds of the shootout were perfect for both teams.

On Atrisco’s fifth try, Eberle read the shooter, guessed correctly, and his save, and the subsequent finish a minute later by teammate David Sherer, allowed the Hawks to win the shootout 5-4 after the former district rivals finished 100 minutes of regulation and two overtimes deadlocked at 1-all.

“I think it’s a type of confidence,” said Sherer. “You have to have that. You can’t go up there scared, thinking you’re gonna miss … I already chose where I was going, so it was all just confidence.”

But it was Eberle’s save that made Sherer’s game-winner possible.

“I usually like to look at the player’s eyes, right before,” Eberle said. “A lot of times, they can contradict themselves. And some of their body language usually gives away where they’re going.”

Did the Atrisco shooter, Jacob Magana, give it away?

“Yes,” Eberle said. Magana directed his try to Eberle’s right, Eberle correctly surmised that before the shot and deflected the shot wide.

Volcano Vista (14-6-1) visits No. 2 Rio Grande at 10 a.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals. The Ravens beat the Hawks 2-0 in the regular season.

“What a great job by those boys to put all those (PKs) away,” Hawks coach Billy Thiebaut said. “There’s a lot of pressure. But they prepared this week, so they were ready for it.”

Volcano Vista was even working on PKs even before Wednesday’s game, which started fast with Chris Marquez scoring in the second minute. Atrisco tied the match just before halftime.

Marquez was injured during the game; Thiebaut said Marquez was scheduled to be the fifth shooter in PKs, but plugged in Sherer instead.

“I just knew it had to be done,” Sherer said. “I had to do it for my team.”

Now Volcano Vista has a short turnaround to play the Ravens.

“It’s a big thing that we’ve done today,” Eberle said.

Albuquerque High and Hope Christian’s boys also prevailed in first-round action Wednesday afternoon. At Eldorado, the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (13-7) won 3-0 on the road against the eighth-seeded Eagles (12-6-3).

“We were lights out today,” AHS coach Orlando Ramirez said. “We had a strategy going in, and we implemented it really well.”

River Applegate scored in the seventh minute, and Albuquerque High added a second goal in the 55th from Javy Salvador-Pedersen, and then the clincher late in the match from Dorian Torres. Eden Garcia Flores assisted on the final two goals for AHS.

And sophomore Miguel Ibarra stood tall in net.

“Man of the match,” Ramirez said of Ibarra. “He made some great saves.”

The Bulldogs move into the quarters at 11 a.m. Saturday at the APS Complex against No. 1 La Cueva. AHS was the only team to beat the Bears this season.

Hope Christian, the 6 seed in Class 4A, held off a spirited Deming group, 4-3, in Wednesday’s first round.

The game was tied 1-all at halftime. There was a flurry of four goals in the opening 18 minutes of the second half. Hope scored two quick goals in the first seven minutes, the Wildcats answered with two goals off set pieces to tie it 3-all.

Manu Garbarino had the game-winner for the Huskies with about eight minutes left. He turned over a Deming player, then fired home a shot from the top of the box.

“We were fortunate to be on the winning side of this one,” said Hope Christian coach Steve Kokulis.

Hope (12-8-1) faces district rival, No. 3 seed and defending state champion Albuquerque Academy at 11 a.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals. The Chargers won both regular-season meetings by the same 3-1 count.

The tournament resumes Friday with quarterfinal action in all three girls divisions, followed by the boys on Saturday.