By Richard Smith
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X: @rsmithYWV

Boys and girls soccer joined football and boys and girls basketball with an Open Division format for the 2024-25 season.

It is similar to the basketball format. The top 32 teams from the 4A-6A conferences qualified for the first round. Then, the final eight teams remain in the Open Division while the other 24 go back into their respective conferences.

Six West Valley Preps teams play in the first round of the Open tonight at 6 p.m. The games are:

No. 20 Scottsdale Desert Mountain (8-4) at No. 13 Mountain Ridge (9-2-1)
WHERE: 22800 N 67th Ave, Glendale.

The Mountain Lions took their lumps in the Desert Valley Region, but so did every other team except for undefeated region champion Pinnacle. Mountain Ridge lost to the Pioneers, upset Boulder Creek, was upset by Liberty and tied rival O'Connor.

This is Mountain Ridge's best team in decades and it's coaches and players are hungry for more than just one playoff win, whether that's in the Open of 6A bracket.

“We were pretty confident going into the season. We got some good new players. Even though we lost some seniors, I thought that our team got stronger. Our goal this season is to make it to playoffs and hopefully make it to the championship,” senior forward Alyssa Peregrino said.

No. 19 Vail Cienega (11-1) at No. 14 Liberty (8-3-1)
WHERE: 9621 W. Speckled Gecko Drive, Peoria

Liberty went through the same gauntlet, particularly after the win at Mountain Ridge.

5A rival Sunrise Mountain gave the Lions their first defeat two days later, then Liberty beat O'Connor and tied Shadow Ridge. But Boulder Creek trounced Liberty 8-0 and Pinnacle won 1-0 to end the regular season.

"Well when every team from our region is in the Open, it makes it pretty clear how tough it was.  I really do not think there are many teams that we are going to face that have had such a tough region schedule," Liberty coach Kyle Pooler stated in an email. "So I feel good that we have play some really tough teams, I think there is not too much else out there that we have not already seen, so I think it helps a lot."

Liberty played Cienega last year in a holiday tournament and Pooler stated the Bobcats are were well coached and very organized.  He said they have two really good forwards that will be tough to contain and two very solid center backs and a really good midfielder.

The coach isn't thrilled that the Lions beat Tempe Corona del Sol 6-1 on Jan. 28, about a week before the Bobcats beat the Aztecs 2-1.

"When you are dealing with 16, 17, 18 year kids they get to looking at scores and comparing, and I try really hard to detour them from doing that, because you start to get complacent thinking that the team must not be as good as we are cause we beat Corona 6-1," Pooler stated. "So I really do not like that."

He said seniors Tatum Kuniski, Malori Ladd, and Grace Hurley. have kept the team focused this year, and a lot of juniors stepped up in a big way and helped lead. 

No. 18 Chandler Basha (7-5) at No. 15 Sunrise Mountain (9-2)
WHERE: 21200 N. 83rd Ave., Peoria

After two straight losses to start the regular season, to fellow Open Division squads Arizona College Prep and Chaparral, the Mustangs did not falter again.

Sunrise Mountain played one less game, because lightning canceled its game with fellow Open Division team Desert Edge on Jan. 27 - with the Scorpions leading 1-0.

Sophomore Bella Acardi leads the Mustangs with 11 goals. After giving up nine goals in those two losses, Sunrise Mountain only conceded eight the rest of the season, and enters tonight on an eight-match shutout streak.

Basha is in a similar boat as Liberty and Mountain Ridge, stuck in a region with elite teams like Queen Creek Casteel, Gilbert Perry and Chandler Hamilton.

No. 23 Desert Edge (10-1) at No. 10 Pinnacle (7-5)
WHERE: 3535 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix.

Pinnacle may take the cake for the toughest scedule in the state. Before running through its region, the Pioneers lost to #1 Casteel, #20 Desert Mountain, #5 Highland, #9 Desert Vista and #3 Phoenix Xavier Prep.

Desert Edge is looking to continue a surprising season.

"We are approaching tonight’s game with the 'we have nothing to lose' 'why not us' mindset. Every game is an experience and a chance to get better and learn," Scorpions coach Malissa Iler stated in an email.

She said the team knew coming into this season that the team had more depth than ever. An early loss to Queen Creek was disappointing but proof that the team was just getting the pieced to fit.

Two girls getting healthy this season, senior goalkeeper Aurora Sartiano and sophomore midfielder Angie Mayo-Gerardo, Iler said, is a key factor.

"We had a freshman standout, Marlene Cruz, who has come in big with crafty goals. She is tied with our senior captain with the most goals in our region. Senior captain, Tatum Iler, our regions leading goal scorer has been a force as a central midfielder. She scored big winning goals in 4 of our region games.  Junior captian Adison Harrell, has been our solid center back. She helped lead our defense to only 1 goal against in region play," Iler said.

Richard Smith
News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps

rsmith@iniusa.org

Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.

An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.

For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.

As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.