Sunrise Mountain, Chaparral advance to 4A boys soccer state final

Sunrise Mountain’s boys soccer team held a one-goal lead the entire second half in its Class 4A state semifinal and had to survive stoppage time to get back to the state title game.

After a strong defensive effort in the second half, the Miners’ offense used a better-late-than-never approach to advance and play to defend their state title.

Sunrise Mountain, the Lake League’s No. 1 seed, scored twice in stoppage time and defeated Cimarron-Memorial, the Sky League’s No. 4 seed, 4-1 in a state semifinal Thursday at Spring Valley.

“It feels good. We put in a lot of dedication in that since were were state champs from last year,” said senior forward Victor Requenez-Cisneros, who had two goals for Sunrise Mountain. “We knew that every team is going to give it their all to make us lose. But we stood our ground and took advantage of it.”

Sunrise Mountain (12-2-3) will play Chaparral (14-5-10) at noon Saturday at Spring Valley for the state title. Sunrise Mountain won last year’s 4A title and will be seeking its fourth boys soccer title.

“This group of boys, they really wanted it this year,” Sunrise Mountain coach Anthony Munoz said. “From the very beginning, they kind of set that tone and that standard of let’s try to make it back to the state final and see if we could be back-to-back champions. We are one win away from that.”

Chaparral, the Lake League’s No. 4 seed, won 2-1 in overtime over Green Valley (12-5-4), the Desert League’s No. 3 seed, in the other state semifinal late Thursday.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” Chaparral coach Alex Ruiz said. “It’s something that we’ve dreamed about not only since the season started but since these boys got into high school, ever since they got on the varsity squad.”

Sunrise Mountain’s 2-0 lead came late in the first half as Requenez-Cisneros scored with 12 minutes left in the first half and Dylan Acosta scored nearly six minutes later.

But Cimarron-Memorial (12-10-1) got some momentum before halftime when Gianni Parada scored on a free kick from nearly 30 yards out as the first half whistle sounded to cut the deficit to 2-1.

“Being up 2-0, it’s kind of a gift and a curse because at the end of the day, if a team scores on you, the momentum shifts and it could be 2-2 at the end of it,” Munoz said. “It was a little nerve-racking, but at the same time, we were letting the boys know to stay calm and we still got another 40 minutes to put this away.”

Miners goalie Jesus Morales stood tall, which included making a pair of stops with five minutes remaining in the second half. Then the Miners took advantage in stoppage time.

A long pass found Juan Rodriguez and the sophomore outran the whole Cimarron-Memorial defense to score in stoppage time. Requenez-Cisneros scored again on a penalty kick.

“We forgot about the mistakes and we came here to take care of business and that’s what we did,” Munoz said. “They cleaned it up. They made sure to be secure and they were on point.”

Chaparral wins in overtime

Chaparral held a 1-0 lead over Green Valley after scoring midway through the first half on a goal from Skander Herrera and had to survive stoppage time in the second half to advance to the title game.

But Green Valley’s Amilcar Cipili scored on a header in the final moments of stoppage time to tie the game at 1-1 and force overtime.

“These boys have been through a lot during the season, so I felt like these boys were built for that moment,” Ruiz said.

Chaparral quickly got a chance in overtime on a foul called in the box which resulted in a penalty kick. Herrera stepped up, hesitated on the approach and drilled the game-winning score as the Cowboys rushed the corner to celebrate.

“I felt nerves,” Herrera said. “I was nervous during the penalty, but before I took it, I took a big, deep breath, made sure everything was good, mentality was good and took the penalty and scored. I felt good that I could help my team make the state finals.”

Contact Alex Wright at [email protected]. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.