Gators’ footwork produces title

Nobody would have blamed Green Valley’s Cayla Imahara for taking the wide-open shot.

Instead, the sophomore made a selfless play and enabled the Gators’ first Class 4A Southern Nevada girls soccer title.

Alyssa Rodriguez scored in the 73rd minute by redirecting a perfect pass by Imahara, and the Gators held on to edge Centennial 1-0 on Thursday at Bettye Wilson Park to win their first Southern Nevada title since the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association recognized the tournament in 2003.

“My instinct was to straightaway play that through-ball (pass),” Imahara said. “I knew (Rodriguez) had the better chance to get that ball in the net.

“There was no hesitation (about not shooting). I wanted just to distribute the ball so she can finish.”

After Kayla Varner dished to a space-blanketing Imahara in the middle of the field, the sophomore midfielder spotted Rodriguez blitzing the right sideline toward the net. Imahara quickly distributed a pass to Rodriguez, who beat Centennial goalkeeper Natalie Gilbertson to the ball and scored just inside the left post.

“(Imahara) played the perfect ball; it couldn’t have been any better,” Rodriguez said. “I saw the keeper coming, and I had to beat the keeper. I got a foot on it somehow, and it went in. It was the happiest thing ever.”

Hailey Beekman made four saves for the Gators (17-6-1), stopping Siena Drizin’s bullet to open the second half.

The Bulldogs controlled the pace of the first half, outshooting Green Valley 6-3 with three shots on goal. But Centennial (17-4-1) couldn’t take advantage of five free kicks within 40 yards of the net, sending shots off target or colliding into Green Valley’s defense.

Cassidy McLean nearly scored for the Gators on a ninth-minute breakaway, but Gilbertson smothered the ball for one of her four saves. Varner added three shots, two on target, that were punched out in the second half.

“We’ve been building for this moment,” Green Valley first-year coach Roy Snider said. “They came out, and never gave up. Centennial played a tremendous game, and had a ton of chances where they really put us on our heels. They played a great ball game against us; they’re a fantastic team.

"But to be able to battle through that, and continue to play, and to come up huge when the chance came, it just shows how determined they were. They wanted this game that bad.”

The win was a rematch of the 2008 Southern Nevada title game, which Centennial won, 1-0. Green Valley coaches and seniors had little trouble using that moment as motivation for this year’s team.

“We were really close this year, and we wanted to give our seniors a last hurrah for Green Valley, to go off to college,” Imahara said. “This was to help them and make them happy.”

The Gators lost 13 seniors following the 2008 title match, but return all but seven players next season.

“It’s huge, especially for those girls that played in that final three years ago,” Snider said. “They had to rebuild a whole new group. We stayed competitive, but it was always a dream of theirs to come back and play for a title, to get the one that we always felt like we deserved and couldn’t quite grasp.

“This is a tremendous group of kids that has been working for this not just this season, but for the last three years.”

The senior class also boasts a handful of college signees, a talented group on which the Gators leaned all season.

“We had to win this, because we did everything — we even dyed our coaches’ hair pink,” said Rodriguez, a senior. “We knew before the game if we didn’t win this, it would be really embarrassing. As soon as I scored, it was the best feeling ever.”