Sabino High School’s girls soccer team continued its dominant season and extended its unbeaten winning streak to 14 games with Saturday’s 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’s 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’s opener, earning a spot in the quarters.
Saturday’s match was closer, complicated by unexpected weather.
“It was a tough match in the wind; Scottsdale Christian’s a great team,” Sabino coach Mackenzie Samuelsen said. “The girls kept their heads in the game and kept doing the same thing they’ve been doing all year, which is believing in each other, sharing the ball, sharing the load and I just couldn’t be more proud of the group that we got this year.”
Senior forward Caroline Rustand scored both of the Sabercats’ goals in Saturday’s 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 “real blessing” to have players like Rustand in his first season as coach.
“Caroline Rustand has been everywhere — she’s here, she’s there, she’s everywhere for us and just been continuing to watch her step in as a leader on this team,” Samuelsen said.
Senior midfielder Ella Sabel tallied an assist.
Over the last two months — well, since Dec. 16 — Sabino has been dominating the opposition. The Sabercats are 10-0-1, with their lone draw coming Jan. 31 against Tucson High, a 6A school. Saturday marked Sabino’s narrowest margin of victory during that time. Over its last 11 matches, the Sabercats have outscored their opponents 81-4.
“It’s been nice,” said Sabino freshman goalkeeper Karina Tapia. “It’s been just kind of like building up our confidence as a team and being able to connect together.”
Sabino’s girls soccer team is all smiles after Saturday’s 2-0 state quarterfinal win.
The Sabercats’ run has come despite a slew of injuries; the team was missing four starters on Saturday.
That didn’t seem to bother Sabino, which channeled another sport while inching ever closer to a state title. Assistant coach Alex Karaman, a self-admitted “big basketball geek,” found an ideal comparison.
“I 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’s definitely what we saw today,” Karaman said.
