The boys soccer team began the AZ Soccer Showcase with a bang, winning three games in a row and progressing to the final rounds of play held earlier this week at the Reach 11 Sports Complex.

The Falcons bested teams from Parker, Mountain View and Viewpoint over the weekend, qualifying for the quarterfinals this past Monday and once again taking on the team from Viewpoint.

A win in the morning match will have meant a trip to the semi-finals for the Falcons later that same day. Another win would then qualify the team for the finals this past Tuesday morning.

Results from the second half of this long tournament will be reported in next week’s edition of The Times.

After the tournament, the boys soccer squad finally gets a little bit of a break, not returning to the field until Friday, Jan. 10, when they will host the team from Arizona Lutheran Academy beginning at 6 p.m.

Parker

The Falcons’ trip through the AZ Showcase began with a match-up versus the Parker Broncos, going on to claim a win at 2-0 in the opening group F match-up.

“We came out against Parker in a 3-5-2 formation that was new to the boys and it took some time to adjust, but the squad settled in when Joe Ahmann took a beautiful pass from Scotty Jarriel and slotted it past the Parker keeper about 30 minutes into the match,” said head coach Tony Galietti.

The Falcons added a second goal to the board when Jarriel sent another ball into the box, which Shivam Rama finished to seal the Falcons’ 2-0 victory.

“We out-shot Parker 24-8, but an outstanding performance by the Parker keeper kept the match closer than it could’ve been,” Galietti added.

Falcon keeper Lucas Johnson recorded yet another clean sheet for his season total.

Mountain View

Into game two of the tournament and the Falcons were set to play Division I’s Mountain View Toros. Despite going down 1-0 early on, the local boys were able to bounce back quickly, going on to claim a 4-1 win.

“Mountain View took the early lead about 12 minutes into the match with a wonderfully struck ball that narrowly beat Lucas Johnson,” said Galietti.

“In the 20th minute, Devin Foyle found the equalizer after taking a cross from Jake McAuliff and poking it home past the Mountain View keeper.”

Just 10 minutes later, Connor Gevirtz hit a dipping, right-footed half-volley over the Toro keeper and inches below the crossbar to give the Falcons the 2-1 lead.

“After going into halftime on a high note, the Falcons put the Toros to the sword, dominating all aspects of the game and outshooting Mountain View 11-3 in the half,” Galietti said.

“Shivam Rama notched two more goals assisted by Cody Dunham and Connor Gevirtz to give him three goals on the day.”

Viewpoint

Game three in the tournament saw the Falcons taking on California’s Viewpoint, going on to win 2-0 to wrap up group play and progress to the final rounds of play.

“We came out with the same personnel and formation that saw us beat Mountain View Friday afternoon,” Galietti said.

“We opened the scoring in the 17th minute after David Grifo slotted a pass back to Cody Dunham, who had a laser in the bottom corner of the Patriot net.”

Galietti said the Falcons continued to press the Patriot net, but the match went into halftime at 1-0. They came back shooting just as hard and often in the second half, though, outshooting the Patriots 10-3.

In the 70th minute, Cody Dunham took a pass from Jake McAuliff and beat two defenders before slotting a shot across the keeper and into the side netting, giving the Falcons a 2-0 lead.

“The final 10 minutes saw the frustration of the Patriots as they continued to foul the Falcons and even had one player sent off with a red card for violent conduct,” Galietti said.

“We finished with another clean sheet for keeper Lucas Johnson with us earning the maximum points out of group play to advance to the quarterfinals on Monday.”

UPDATE

Winning a forfeit over Viewpoint in the quarterfinal match-up, the Falcons went on to lose a 4-1 match in the semi-finals Monday afternoon, bringing their run through this invitation-only tournament to a hard-fought close.