Preps: Silverado avoiding rematch with Gorman

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 7:16 a.m.

As much as they enjoyed pulling off the year's biggest upset in last season's playoffs, the Silverado girls soccer team would prefer not to have to repeat that task this time around.

The Skyhawks, who stunned top-seeded Green Valley in the 1997 Southern Zone Tournament, entered Thursday night's match with Basic in a third-place tie with their opponents. Silverado coach Kirk Grimm knew that a loss would likely mean a fourth-place finish, and a first-round playoff date with powerhouse Bishop Gorman.

So Grimm's squad left nothing to chance, downing the visiting Wolves 2-1 to move one step closer to avoiding that dreaded matchup with the Gaels.

"Last year, we won against number one. We'd rather not have to do it again," Grimm said.

Junior forward Candice Sutton scored both goals for Silverado (7-5-2, 7-4-2 Sunrise), which avenged an earlier 2-0 loss to Basic (7-6-2, 6-5-2).

"The first time we played them we had a bad game," Sutton said. "This was kind of revenge because we knew we could beat them."

After a fairly even first half, Silverado dominated the second, outshooting the visitors 7-2 after halftime.

With the game knotted at one, Sutton scored the game-winner in the opening moments of the second half, following her own shot and blasting a 15-yard shot past Wolves' keeper Jessica Magro.

Sutton's first goal came midway through the first half on a hustling play in which she saved a ball from going out of bounds, beat a defender to the end line and fired a long shot past a diving Magro.

Basic, which still appears headed toward the first postseason appearance in school history, got on the board late in the first, when June Reasland served a long pass into the box. Skyhawks' goalie Amie Flewellen misplayed the ball, and Ciera Diaz headed it in to even things up.

Flewellen, who narrowly missed her fourth shutout of the season, made four saves to earn the win. Magro stopped five Silverado shots in the losing effort.

"We knew it would be a tough game," said Grimm, whose club had never faced nearby Basic before moving into the Sunrise Division this season. "It's developing into a good rivalry here in Henderson."

* ELSWHERE: Eldorado's Erika Wong scored the game's lone goal to give the Sundevils a 1-0 win over visiting Las Vegas High.