SUNRISE BOYS SOCCER: Freshman scores key goal as Falcons top Wildcats

Kapono Maruyama entered Wednesday’s soccer match cold off the bench and was put in a position he hadn’t played all season.

The freshman made his minutes count in a Division I Sunrise Region semifinal, scoring in the 60th minute and effectively stopping the momentum Las Vegas had briefly built early in the second half.

That goal helped the Falcons to a 4-1 win and moved the team into the Sunrise title game at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Maruyama took a bending cross from the right side of the field and put it in the back of the net to give Foothill a 3-1 lead. Teammate Mason Reid scored just four minutes later for the final margin.

“I was just making my run to the backside of the box and I just saw a beautiful cross by Jackson (Dietrich),” Maruyama said. “I just concentrated on hitting that ball solid. He curved it in. It was a nice, high curving ball.

“(My teammates) were telling me how sick the goal was. They just hugged me. They were as shocked as I was. I think it was huge. They were gaining momentum, but that just sent them back.”

Maruyama, who normally is a defender, was put in on the wing by coach Andrew Risheg for the first time all season, forcing him to take a much larger role on offense. His score gave the Falcons (19-3) a two-goal lead and helped deflate the Wildcats, who were starting to find their game out of the break.

“The fun part about (him scoring) for us is that he normally is one of our defenders,” Risheg said. “He’s our first defender to go in. In these games we’re not subbing in our guys a lot, but we want to get him on the field because he’s a good player. So we put him on the wing. To have him score that type of goal is just phenomenal for him and me.”

After trailing 2-0 at halftime, Las Vegas (15-2-2) was able to control possession for the first 20 minutes of the second half and put constant pressure on Foothill. The Wildcats finally broke through on a penalty kick from Marc Sotelo in the 50th minute to make it 2-1.

Maruyama and Reid’s goals essentially sealed the game with 20 minutes to spare.

“It was a hard transition, having to work that ball around,” Maruyama said of his new position. “It was difficult, but at the end, it kind of worked out.”

Robert Cowan and Esiquiel Garcia each scored first-half goals for Foothill, which got two assists from Jackson Dietrich. Cowan also assisted on Reid’s goal.

Foothill will meet Valley (14-3), the Northeast League’s No. 1 seed, in the Sunrise final on Saturday at Heritage Park.

“(Valley) plays very fast,” Risheg said. “They’re very technically sound, we know that about them. We played them last year and it’s pretty much the same group.”

Maruyama said: “If we play the way we played tonight, we’re good enough to win state.”

Valley 5, Coronado 2 — Eric Sanchez had two goals and an assist, and the Vikings survived some tense moments in the second half to defeat the Cougars (12-8-2).

John Cerda finished with a goal and an assist, and Marco Gonzalez added two assists for Valley.

Cerda headed in Gonzalez’s free kick to put the Vikings up 3-1 in the 51st minute, but Coronado took control from that point. Justin Lyons scored his area-leading 41st goal in the 56th minute to cut Valley’s lead to 3-2, and Diego Osuna nearly tied the game two minutes later when his shot from point-blank range hit the crossbar.

But the Vikings regained their two-goal advantage in the 68th minute as Abel Tesfa sent a pass over the top of Coronado’s defense, and Sanchez rounded goalkeeper Harrison Skinner before slipping it into the empty net.

Damian Alvarez and Alexis Jimenez also scored for Valley, which led 2-1 at halftime.

Alex Taylor scored midway through the first half for Coronado, tapping the ball in from close range after a goal-mouth scramble.