Las Vegas High soccer advances to state title game

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 | 1:28 a.m.

Las Vegas High is the oldest high school is Southern Nevada. Yet, the Wildcats have never won a state boys soccer championship.

Thanks to a 2-1 victory against Clark in the state semifinals Friday at Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex, Las Vegas will have a chance to make history.

"It means an awful lot to the school. We've never won a title and we've never been in a final before," Las Vegas coach Vince Hart said.

Las Vegas will face Northern Region champion Galena High of Reno, who beat two-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman 6-5 on penalty kicks Friday.

However, the Wildcats still have to get past Northern Region champion Galena, which defeated two-time defending state champion Bishop Gorman 6-5 on penalty kicks on Friday night.

Las Vegas scored two first half goals against Clark, then held on late as the Chargers had numerous goal-scoring opportunities in the second half.

"We've done that every game of the tournament. We'll go up 2-0 and let them come back," Hart said.

Rivas scored to give the Wildcats the lead early in the first half, and junior forward Danny Sanchez added a second goal to give Las Vegas a two-goal lead at the break.

Clark coach Juan Chavez said his team was surprised by how quick the Vegas players were in the first half.

"Their speed up top really surprised us. We ended up chasing the ball and the players," Chavez said. "I woke them up at halftime and told them to get their opportunities and press it."

Salvador Bernal scored Clark's goal.

The Chargers followed their coach's advice and cut the lead to one midway through the second half when junior forward

"I'm real happy with the win, but not with the way we played," Hart said. "We didn't take advantage of our opportunities when we needed to."

Gorman's dreams of a three-peat came up short as it couldn't prevail in penalty kicks.

"We had a nice run and now we just have to gear up for next year," Gorman coach Nick Arbelaez said. "I feel bad for the seniors, but they did win two state titles, and we return most of our team for next year."

Brent Hinckley can be reached at 990-7822 or brent.hinckley@hbcpub.com.