Las Vegas gains revenge for last year’s loss by blanking Silverado

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 10:01 a.m.

With memories of last season's crushing playoff exit spurring them on, the Las Vegas Wildcats left nothing to chance in Wednesday's 4A Sunrise Region boys soccer semifinals.

One year after falling to Silverado, 2-1, in a wild 12-round shootout, the host Wildcats avenged that heartbreaking loss with a relatively uneventful 3-0 win over the Skyhawks.

"We have a lot of new kids, but the memory was still there," Las Vegas coach Ron Fick said. "They wanted to get the game back."

With the victory, the Wildcats move within one win of an appearance in this year's 4A state tournament, which will be played next Friday and Saturday in Carson. Las Vegas (10-4-5) will host Green Valley (15-1-2) Saturday at 11 a.m. for the right to advance.

"We looked at Green Valley and we know what they've got," Fick said. "We're respectful, but we feel we have enough to win the match."

The Wildcats seized control of their semifinal game with Silverado (12-3-2) just 10 minutes into the contest, taking advantage of a Skyhawk turnover to make the score 1-0.

After making a stake deep in Silverado's third of the field, Ernesto Dominguez sent a pass across the middle to Herculez Gomez, who promptly deposited it to keeper Mark Perry's left.

Gomez, academically ineligible for much of the season before rejoining the Wildcats last week, made it 2-0 late in the first half when he buried a 20-yard blast into the upper corner of the net.

"Herculez was on fire today," Las Vegas defender Eric Santiago said. "That kid coming back gives out team a lot of momentum. Without him, we weren't scoring any goals. Today, he had two goals in a big game."

While Gomez got the job done offensively, the Wildcat defense stymied Silverado's normally-potent attack. Santiago shadowed Skyhawk leading scorer Mike Eshragh throughout the contest, and Las Vegas goalkeeper Daniel Valdez turned away two good second-half shots.

"Silverado is a team that thrives on emotion," Gomez said. "We knew if they got a lead, it would be difficult for us to dig ourselves out."

In Wednesday's Sunset Region contest, host Durango (12-3-2) advanced to the championship game with a 3-0 victory over Clark (5-10-2). The Trailblazers will play Bishop Gorman (16-0-1) Saturday at 11 a.m. for the right to represent the region in the four-team state tournament.

Gorman defeated Durango in both of the teams' regular season meetings this year.