SUNRISE GIRLS SOCCER: Unrelenting Falcons coast into semifinals

Foothill girls soccer coach Cynthia Guzman kept her postgame speech short and sweet Tuesday afternoon after her team’s Class 4A Sunrise Region quarterfinal win at Bettye Wilson Park.

“We need to ride that wave into tomorrow,” she said, smiling.

Amber Risheg had three goals and an assist, and Elise Bush finished with a hat trick as the Falcons surfed away en route to a 9-0 win over Eldorado.

“Everybody had a piece of the pie,” Guzman said. “That was the beauty of it — them moving the ball, finding each other, supporting each other. That’s what we’ve worked on all season, and it finally came together in this game today.”

Foothill (11-2-3) will face Silverado (10-6) in a Sunrise Region semifinal at 4 p.m Thursday at Bettye Wilson Park. The Skyhawks defeated the Falcons 2-1 in the region semifinals last season.

“We’re in it to win it,” Guzman said. “And we have this mentality that we’re just going to go in and take everybody down at all costs. Just kind of a good time for us right now. Just like I’ve said before, you never know who our goal scorers are going to be.”

The Falcons finished with 28 shots, 18 on goal, and constantly pressured Eldorado goalkeeper Dina Goc-Ong.

“I always tell the girls, ‘We can’t score if we’re not shooting,’” Guzman said. “They really had a desire that I’ve never seen before. Just multiple people crashing the goal and wanting a goal — wanting to put one it.”

The defense limited the Sundevils to two shots and seldomly let the ball cross midfield. Eldorado did not attempt a shot in the second half.

Risheg scored two of her three goals in the second half and added an assist. The senior scored off an assist by Hannah Barnett three minutes into the match to open the scoring.

Bush, a freshman, then scored two goals in the next four minutes to begin the rout.

“This is good for the girls,” Guzman said. “We had great opportunities. Everybody was just on their ‘A’ game today.”

Natalie Williams made two saves for the Falcons. It was her school-record eighth shutout of the season.

Goc-Ong made 12 saves for Eldorado (6-10-1).

Green Valley 2, Rancho 1 — After the teams played a scoreless second half, Jazlyn Hall took a cross from Chela Anglin and scored the golden goal two minutes into overtime to lift the Gators by the Rams in the Sunrise quarterfinals.

“We talked and our mission (in overtime) was to go out there and get the game over with,” Green Valley coach Catherine Davis said. “It had already gone 80 minutes too long in our heads, so our priority was to put one in early and head on home and start resting up for the next night.”

Green Valley (14-7-2) will meet Coronado (17-2-4) in a Sunrise Region semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Rancho’s Saipress Jones scored on an assist from Marlene Godoy to give the Rams (6-4-2) a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute.

But Alexis Kirson scored the equalizer in the 33rd minute to make it 1-1 at halftime. Mariah Neshkoff had the assist for the Gators.

“Alexis’ goal was fantastic,” Davis said. “She received a pass from Mariah, busted a few moves around defenders and hooked one inside the right post. It was gorgeous.”

Coronado 6, Canyon Springs 0 — Jensen Boman had four goals and an assist, and the Cougars built a 3-0 halftime lead before cruising past the Pioneers in the Sunrise quarterfinals.

“She’s capable of many goals,” Coronado coach Dana Neel said. “She had a good game tonight — put (her shots) on frame and did well. She’s a good leader for us.”

Evie DiFiore and Regan Ramier each added a goal, and Olivia Meza had two assists for Coronado, which also got assists from Katelyn Moxley and Ariann Sanford.

“It’s always good to have a strong opening to a tournament,” Neel said. “The girls moved the ball around well. That’s what we needed to make sure that we were playing at the top of our game.”

Rachel Morris made three saves in the shutout.

Canyon Springs finished 5-10-2.

Silverado 3, Las Vegas 0 — Melina Amador scored on a free kick and had an assist as the fourth-seeded Skyhawks downed the Wildcats in a Sunrise quarterfinal.

Amador assisted on Victoria Bravo’s first-half goal, and Ashley Nekoba added an unassisted goal for Silverado, which led 1-0 at halftime.

Mikaila Becze recorded the shutout for Silverado.

Las Vegas, which won the Northeast League title, finished 11-5-1.

Contact reporter Ashton Ferguson at aferguson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0430. Follow @af_ferguson on Twitter.