I-A BOYS SOCCER: Lopez leads Clark past Del Sol

Clark boys soccer coach Juan Chavez said his team's good fortune this season started when senior Ivan Lopez became a leader.

The Chargers' good fortune on Tuesday came largely because of Lopez.

Lopez scored in the 16th minute and again in the 35th minute, and the Chargers held on for a 2-1 win over Del Sol in a Division I-A Southern Region quarterfinal at Bettye Wilson Park.

Clark (13-6-1) will face Spring Valley (9-8-1) in a semifinal at 4 p.m. Thursday at Bettye Wilson.

"Ivan turned our whole year around," said Chavez, whose team is 7-1 in its last eight matches. "We were struggling in the first half of the season, and he stepped up. He became a captain and took the whole team on his shoulders. They're playing for him. They look up to him.

"He just comes out and plays 110 percent every game, and everybody saw that. Automatically, everybody just followed him. From there, it was where we were supposed to be at the beginning of the season."

Both of Lopez's goals came on counterattacks off long rushes as Clark tried to use its speed to its advantage.

Juan Sanchez-Moran broke in on the right side and sent a cross to Lopez, who knocked home the shot in the 16th minute to put the Chargers ahead for good.

Less than 20 minutes later, Eduardo Martinez sent a long pass ahead, and Lopez outraced Del Sol goalkeeper Marco Vazquez to the ball. As Vazquez dived, Lopez poked the ball around him, tucking it into the net for a 2-0 lead.

"They couldn't handle our speed," Chavez said of the long rushes. "With this group of kids, and we're graduating 12 of them, they want to leave it all out on the field."

Clark nearly went up 3-0 before the midway point of the second half, but Vazquez made a beautiful one-handed save on another Lopez shot from the left side to allow the Dragons (10-6-3) a chance to come back.

Del Sol pulled to within 2-1 with 11:30 left in the match when Kevin Hernandez headed Sergio Calderon's corner kick inside the right post.

With just more than eight minutes left, Clark goalkeeper Jose Puentes stopped the potential tying goal on Diego Flores-Diaz's 20-yard shot through traffic, and the Chargers held on.

"They didn't give up," Chavez said. "They played to win, and they played until the last minute."

Spring Valley 2, Chaparral 0 — Cesar Estrada had a goal and an assist in the second half as the Grizzlies ousted the Sunrise League champion Cowboys (12-5-3).

Jose Lopez also scored for Spring Valley, which took the lead in the opening minutes of the second half.

Ethan Harper made five of his seven saves in the second half to keep last year's state runner-up at bay and earn the shutout.

Tech 1, Western 0 — Andres Santana converted a penalty kick with nine minutes left in the match, and Tyler Harvey made three saves in the final four minutes as the Roadrunners knocked out the Sunset League champion Warriors.

Tech's Grant Samaoya moved around one Western defender before cutting into the box with nine minutes left in the match. He split two defenders and was fouled 12 yards from the goal, giving the Roadrunners (14-7-2) the penalty kick.

Santana blasted a shot into the lower right corner of the net for the only goal of the match.

Western (18-2-2) had chances to tie, but Harvey made three of his six saves in the closing minutes.

Harvey dived to his right to bat away Alonso Campos-Martinez's 28-yard free kick with four minutes to play and plucked a header out of the air less than a minute later.

With a minute left, Western's Ricardo Gonzalez broke in on the right side, but Harvey tipped Gonzalez's high shot over the crossbar, and after the ensuing corner kick, Tech's Francisco Garcia cleared the ball out of harm's way.

Tech will face Sunrise Mountain (13-2-2) in the region semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday at Bettye Wilson.

Sunrise Mountain 7, Mojave 0 — Luis Olandez scored three of his team's six first-half goals, and the Miners cruised by the Rattlers (10-8-1).

Olandez and Musio Jimenez-Vazquez each had three goals and an assist for Sunrise Mountain. Julian Herrera added a goal for the Miners.

Cesar Venegas and Adrian Zacarias combined on the shutout.