Bishop Gorman, Arbor View reach 5A girls soccer state final — PHOTOS

Bishop Gorman girls soccer goalie Lyvea Caceres came up with handfuls of saves during the overtime periods of Wednesday’s Class 5A state semifinals.

As Gorman and Centennial went to a penalty kick shootout, all the Gaels needed was one more stop from their junior goalie.

Caceres delivered, stopping a shot from Centennial’s Evelyn Contreras and No. 1-seeded Gorman made all of its penalty kicks to win the shootout 5-3 over No. 4 Centennial after a 1-1 tie following double overtime at Faith Lutheran.

“(Caceres) has been great all year,” Gorman coach Doug Borgel said. “I think she’s the best goalie in town and in 5A and she had a great overtime. Great during the game and then made the one big save we needed.”

Gorman (20-2-1) will play No. 3 Arbor View (18-2-3) at 10 a.m. Saturday at Faith Lutheran for the 5A state title. Arbor View stunned two-time defending 5A state champion and No. 2-seeded Faith Lutheran 3-0 in the other state semifinal late Wednesday.

“It feels great,” Arbor View coach Erica Peeples said. “The girls have worked hard all season and this well deserved. I’m very proud of them. We come in every game as the underdog, and we just knew that we had no pressure and all we could do was just play to the best of our ability.”

Gorman topples Centennial

The Gaels will have a chance to play for their first state title since the program won consecutive 4A titles in 2018 and 2019.

“It feels awesome,” Caceres said. “I’ve never made it (to the state title game) and as a goalie, there’s a ton of pressure, but in the end, it’s super rewarding. The adrenaline was super high, but as a goalie, you just have to stay super strong mentally.

After a scoreless first half, Gorman converted on a corner kick. Bayly Powell’s kick appeared to go long but Mikayla LeCavalier found the ball and headed it in to give the Gaels a 1-0 lead.

Gorman was eight minutes from winning in regulation, but Contreras received a pass in open space and fired a shot 20 yards out past Caceres to tie the game at 1-1.

Caceres made several stops in the second overtime period, stopping three Centennial (13-6-3) shots on goal, two corner kicks and a free kick to force penalty kicks.

“I thought we started slow but then we really worked our way into the game and then in the second half, we were still there and then about 20 minutes left, I felt like we started to get a little tired, a little nervous,” Borgel said. “The overtimes are so sudden, I thing we played a little tighter, but just enough to get by them.”

Both teams converted on their penalty kicks in the first three rounds before Caceres came up with the stop. Malia Browner netted the game-deciding penalty kick in the fifth round.

“I kind of read where she was going and the moment I saved it, it just felt awesome,” Caceres said of her save. “I knew we were going to win it from there.”

Said Borgel of his team making all five penalty kicks: “I think for the first time in my career, we didn’t miss a PK, which was great and we needed all five. That’s not easy … to have all five of those girls step up like that under pressure says a lot of their character for sure.”

Arbor View knocks off champs

Arbor View will get a chance to play for its first state titles since the program won five consecutive 4A titles from 2012 to 2016. Faith Lutheran (14-3-3) was looking for its thirds straight title.

The Aggies got on the board 13 minutes into the game when Danielle Morales scored after gathering a loose ball in front of the net, and they held a 1-0 lead going into halftime.

“It definitely helped our momentum and energy and we just had to stay calm the rest of the game,” Peeples said of getting the early goal. “We knew we had to put a few more away because Faith (Lutheran) is a really good team and we knew they would come back at us.”

Arbor View kept up its scoring in the second half when Bailee Little scored on a header early in the half and Sophia Sachs recorded the dagger on a short tap in with less than eight minutes to play. Aggies goalie Emily Marks posted a shutout and stopped several early first-half attempts from Faith Lutheran.

“She’s the foundation of our team,” Peeples said of Marks. “When she’s on and she’s ready. Nothing can get past here. She’s amazing.”

Contact Alex Wright at [email protected].