Prep soccer crown up for grabs in Sunset

Spencer Patterson

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998 | 10:44 a.m.

If Monday's prep soccer game between Cheyenne and Bonanza is any indication of things to come, next month's 4A Southern Zone Tournament should be full of surprises.

After looking like anything but a playoff contender in the first half, the visiting Bengals dominated the second, rallying for two goals to force a 2-2 tie with their Sunset Division rival.

"I said (at halftime), 'If you can't come back in a game like this, you aren't ready for the playoffs,'" said Bonanza coach Debbie Antonio-Hunt, whose club clinched a playoff berth with the tie. "They really stepped it up."

The result, combined with Durango's 3-0 win over Western, kept the Desert Shields (10-3-2, 9-2-2 Sunset) from taking over first place in the tight conference standings. Instead, the Trailblazers lead the pack with 30 points, followed by Cheyenne (29), Bonanza (28) and idle Palo Verde (24).

"We just didn't have it tonight," Cheyenne coach Rick Kazee said. "Bonanza worked hard and got what they needed in the second half."

After failing to convert several chances early in the second half, the Bengals (9-4-5, 8-3-3) finally got back into the contest in the 35th minute on the first of Matt Lambert's two goals.

After the referee awarded the visitors an indirect kick just six yards from the goalline, Lambert buried a pass from Neill Mudano into the top of the net.

Then, with four minutes to play in the game, Lambert scored the equalizer, also off an assist from Mudano. After Mudano crossed the ball in front of the Cheyenne goal, Lambert stole it from a defender and poked it past goalkeeper Oscar Castellanos.

"I told them at halftime that 2-0 is a dangerous score because you tend to sit back and relax a little bit," Kazee said. "That's exactly what happened."

The Shields got their lead on an early tally by Jozef Dymek and an own goal midway through the first half, when a throw-in by Jimmy Avance went in off a Bonanza defender.

Rams forfeit games

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association stripped Rancho of all seven of the school's Sunrise Division boys soccer wins Monday after it was determined the Rams used an academically ineligible player.

With the forfeits, Green Valley moves into position to claim the conference's fourth and final playoff sport.

Rancho became the second school to forfeit soccer games this month. On Oct. 2, Bishop Gorman forfeited eight victories, also for using academically ineligible players.