Elliott Greisen is a Masters student at ASU Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Camelback High School for AZpreps365.com

PHOENIX– Camelback girls soccer closed out its season with a dominant win over Sierra Linda to go undefeated in region play. 

The Spartans started off the night fast with Ariany Mapula scoring her first goal of the night at the six-minute mark. 

Mapula beat her defenders from 50 yards out, dribbling down the middle and into the box, banking the ball off the left corner post and into the back of the net. 

This was the start of what would turn out to be a hat trick for Mapula and a dominant game by the Spartans. 

After that first quick goal, Camelback experienced lapses in defense. Miscommunication and players being out of place and falling down plagued the Spartans through most of the first half. 

“We came out pretty flat.” Camelback coach Andreian Quiceno said. “We needed to be more aggressive and energized.”  

Sierra Linda was able to take advantage of these mistakes and put balls over Camelback's defenses where the Bulldogs' Jaquelline Ceballos-Luna had many opportunities early to score but just was unable to finish. 

Spartan goalkeeper sophomore Adryelle Wilfert played an inspired first half, making some miraculous saves to protect the Spartans 1-0 lead.   

At the 33-minute mark of the first half, Ceballos-Luna once again beat her defender on a long pass and went one-on-one with Wilfert. This time the freshman was able to finish, putting the ball just past the goalie and into the right corner of the net. 

The Spartans fought back, pushing the ball down in front of the Bulldog goal. With under a minute to go in the half, senior Syndel Zazueta took a corner kick to the middle of the box where Mapula found the back of the net for her second goal of the night. That sent the Spartans into half with a 2-1 lead. 

“I looked to see if anyone was open,” Zazueta said, “I saw an opportunity and just put the ball in there hoping they make a play and it goes in, and it did.” 

Quiceno emphasized at half time that this is the last 40 minutes of the season, challenging the players to look at how they were playing and think if that is how they wanted to be remembered for this season.  

Camelback did a much better job forcing the Bulldogs to work for their opportunities. Not allowing them to just kick the ball over their heads. 

The Bulldogs looked a little timid as Wilfert started coming out of her goal and challenging the forwards more. 

“We had a tough time adjusting to her coming out.” Bulldog coach Chris Boeck said. “I wish they'd been a little more aggressive.”

This led to more opportunities on the offensive end for Camelback as Wilfert was able to put some of those balls in front of the goal for the Bulldogs. 

Both teams were able to exert pressure on the goal but neither was able to finish. That was until Zazueta found freshman Ashley Barriga on a cross into the box at the 75th minute and Barriga buried it into the net. 

Not long after that, in the 77th minute, Mapula found some open turf again with the ball. She beat her defenders, dribbling in close and finishing out her hat trick by sliding the ball past the left side of the goalie, putting the Spartans up 4-1.

The Bulldogs cut into the Spartans lead with a late goal in the 79th minute by senior Jennifer Villanueva Diaz to make the final score 4-2. 

First year coach Quiceno is happy with how her team played and is optimistic about the future. 

“Maybe we don’t advance to the playoffs but maybe as a coach that's not always what it's about," said Quiceno. “To see your team blossom, I told them that team chemistry in the second half is what I’ve seen in them all season.”