Flagstaff survives another PK round to win 4A championship

February 26, 2020 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Flagstaff (Andy Morales/AZPreps365.com)

The shots kept coming but Lianna Albert didn’t waiver. In all, No. 4 Catalina Foothills put together two dozen shots but the sophomore keeper for No. 3 Flagstaff was up to the task with 14 saves in regulation and a couple more in overtime. Then came the PK round.

Albert blocked two shots from the mark in dramatic fashion to give the Eagles the 4A state championship over Catalina Foothills Tuesday night at Williams Field. The 4-2 victory on PKs was nowhere near the complete story of the final match but, in a way, it was.

Flagstaff (16-4-1) completed an incredible run to the state championship that included four straight victories in the playoffs that required Albert’s special attention in multiple do-or-die situations.

The Eagles needed a 2-1 overtime victory to get past No. 14 Gila Ridge in the first round and then came a run through the vaunted 4A Kino Region. The Eagles beat No. 6 Sahuaro 5-4 in PKs in the quarterfinals, defeated three-time state champion No. 7 Salpointe 3-2 in PKs in the semifinals and Catalina Foothills 4-2 in PKs Tuesday night to bring home the first title since 2011 and the fourth overall.

The two teams played to a 0-0 tie in 80 minutes of regulation with Falcon junior keeper Flavia Burrell turning back four shots to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard through two 10-minute over time periods and two five-minute “golden goal” periods.

Hailey Schlenker put Flagstaff on top 1-0 with a shot to the right and Uriah Burrell tied the round up 1-1 with her offering to the right. A miss by the Eagles was followed by a block by Albert to keep the round tied 1-1. Maya Shearon delivered on a shot to the left to put the Eagles up 2-1 and Albert blocked her second attempt to keep Flagstaff up 2-1.

Brisa Arangure scored to the right to give the Eagles a commanding 3-1 lead but Rebecca Burrows gave the Falcons hope with the shot to cut the lead down to 3-2. The Eagles needed one score to secure the championship and Mayrin Soto came through with her shot to the right for the 4-2 victory.

The loss ended the season for first-year head coach Sou Moussa-Torres but she saw more positives from the dominating performance that didn’t relate to a victory, as is common in the game of soccer.

“Flagstaff has a quality keeper,” Torres said. “She’s one of the strongest I have seen and their strategy worked despite our girls dominating possession. The soccer gods weren’t with us and it heartbreaking to lose on PK’s but we grinded all season to get here and that’s soccer. I’m saddened for them, but not disappointed.”

Catalina Foothills (16-5-1) lost to Salpointe in overtime in the title match last year and the program has eight titles between 2003 and 2013 to go along with four runner-up finishes.