Women tops at Region 1
Ben Urcuyo
Mesa Legend

Dennis Mikulich Mesa Legend

Natalie Peterson (16) steals the ball from a Cochise player in the Region 1 Championship, which Mesa won.

Goalie Meghan Cyr prides herself on keeping the ball out of the net; however, it was up to her to seal the Championship for the Thunderbirds by putting one in it. Scoreless in regulation and in overtime, the Regional 1 Championship was decided on goal kicks. With a 3-2 lead, Cyr powered a shot in the upper left corner to give the No.1 seeded Thunderbirds the title as well as the victory over the No. 2 seed Cochise Lady Apaches.
Before the goal kicks, Cyr said, “They’re done! It’s over, they’re done!” A few moments later she was proven right. Mesa’s leading scorer, Kristina Burris, scored, followed by a miss of the top cross bar by Cochise’s Brittany Sharp. In the next round both Mesa’s Verena Andrade and Cochise’s Roxanne Martinez scored, making the score 2-1. Things tightened up for the Thunderbirds as Mesa’s Elise Pellant was blocked and a score by Cochise’s goalie Amber Sirois tied it at 2-2. In the fourth round Ali Landon of Mesa scored and Cyr blocked a shot by Cochise’s Kira Sharp. With a 3-2 lead going into the fifth and deciding round, it was up to Cyr to finish it.
“In all my years playing, I’ve never missed that shot,” Cyr said. The shot sailed in the upper left corner beyond the goalkeeper’s reach, giving the No. 4 nationally ranked Thunderbirds the Region 1 women’s soccer championship.
Cochise came into the game planning to stop MCC’s Burris. They did so by mirroring Burris with their own Jennifer Goodrum and at times double-teaming her. However, on two occasions Burris broke free for goal opportunities, and in both instances, she was taken down, resulting in Cochise yellow cards. Burris created her first opportunity by faking out Goodrum and going around her. All Goodrum could do was push Burris from behind. The second resulted when Burris faked defender Courtney Glass and received a push and an elbow to stop another clear attack on goal.
Verena Andrade missed a great one-on-one opportunity with 10:15 remaining in the first half.
“Our defense is fine; we have to start setting ourselves up offensively.” Coach Parsons told his team at halftime as he continued to provide instructions on doing so.
Sure enough, in the second half Mesa came out attacking. Despite scoring opportunities by Landon, Rachel Crawford and Andrade, the Thunderbirds came up empty. Cochise seemed to pick up momentum with each of those missed opportunities and aggressively ran an offensive attack of their own, setting up some great scoring opportunities.
Although coming up short as well, it was Cochise who had the momentum going into overtime play and the Thunderbirds could feel the pressure on their back.
MCC responded with aggressive play, but Parsons could only hold his head down after a clear shot missed its target. With other scoring opportunities missing their mark, it seemed inevitable that the championship would be decided on goal kicks.

Back to Top | Previous Page | Home