Sabino High School鈥檚 girls soccer team continued its dominant season and extended its unbeaten winning streak to 14 games with Saturday鈥檚 2-0 win over Scottsdale Christian in the Class 3A state quarterfinals.
Up next: Sabino will face the winner of No. 1 Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin and No. 9 Phoenix Veritas Prep in Wednesday鈥檚 semifinals. The match is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
While Saturday marked the start of state playoffs for 4A, 5A and 6A, the 3A bracket began play earlier in the week. The fourth-seeded Sabercats beat Valley Christian 6-2 in Wednesday鈥檚 opener, earning a spot in the quarters.
Saturday鈥檚 match was closer, complicated by unexpected weather.
鈥淚t was a tough match in the wind; Scottsdale Christian鈥檚 a great team,鈥 Sabino coach Mackenzie Samuelsen said. 鈥淭he girls kept their heads in the game and kept doing the same thing they鈥檝e been doing all year, which is believing in each other, sharing the ball, sharing the load and I just couldn鈥檛 be more proud of the group that we got this year.鈥
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Senior forward Caroline Rustand scored both of the Sabercats鈥 goals in Saturday鈥檚 playoff win. Rustand broke a scoreless dealock in the 55th minute, when she scored off a corner kick. She added her second goal in the 80th minute, when she launched a shot from about 30 yards away.
Samuelsen said it has been a 鈥渞eal blessing鈥 to have players like Rustand in his first season as coach.
鈥淐aroline Rustand has been everywhere 鈥 she鈥檚 here, she鈥檚 there, she鈥檚 everywhere for us and just been continuing to watch her step in as a leader on this team,鈥 Samuelsen said.
Senior midfielder Ella Sabel tallied an assist.
Over the last two months 鈥 well, since Dec. 16 鈥 Sabino has been dominating the opposition. The Sabercats are 10-0-1, with their lone draw coming Jan. 31 against 蜜柚直播 High, a 6A school. Saturday marked Sabino鈥檚 narrowest margin of victory during that time. Over its last 11 matches, the Sabercats have outscored their opponents 81-4.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been nice,鈥 said Sabino freshman goalkeeper Karina Tapia. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been just kind of like building up our confidence as a team and being able to connect together.鈥
Sabino鈥檚 girls soccer team is all smiles after Saturday鈥檚 2-0 state quarterfinal win.
The Sabercats鈥 run has come despite a slew of injuries; the team was missing four starters on Saturday.
That didn鈥檛 seem to bother Sabino, which channeled another sport while inching ever closer to a state title. Assistant coach Alex Karaman, a self-admitted 鈥渂ig basketball geek,鈥 found an ideal comparison.
鈥淚 liken it to the (San Antonio) Spurs: if you have a system, you can bring people in and out of that system and the system will still work for you and I think that鈥檚 definitely what we saw today,鈥 Karaman said.
