Boys soccer: Campo Verde deals Corona 2nd straight shutout loss

January 25, 2016 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Campo Verde received short notice of a time change for its boys soccer contest with Corona del Sol on Monday, but playing a couple hours earlier than expected didn't adversely effect the Coyotes.

Ethan Willson figured in all three goals Campo Verde scored as the Coyotes blanked Corona del Sol, 3-0, in a Division I match at Corona.

A busted water pipe at Corona's football field forced the school to notify Campo Verde late Monday morning the match needed to be shifted from 6 p.m.. to 4 p.m. to a field directly west of Corona's stadium.The backfield has no lights hence the shift in time to get the match in with sufficient daylight.

The match was all Campo Verde all the way. Willson, a sophomore midfielder/forward, fed Luke Gleadle for a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute. Willson pushed the margin to 2-0 in the 56th minute, tapping in an assist from Trevor Devlin. Willson capped the scoring unassisted as he dribbled through defenders in the box in the 73rd minute and found the far corner of the net.

It was a huge win for Campo Verde (15-4-2 overall, 7-3-1 power-ranking matches). The Coyotes arguably face the toughest  three matches to close the season of any D-I team. It began with with a 2-0 loss to perennial title-contender Hamilton last Thursday and will conclude with defending D-I champ Chandler on Wednesday at Chandler.

"You guys continue to surprise me," Campo Verde coach Drew Guarneri said to his squad in a postgame chat. "Enjoy this, but remember we have another game on our schedule." Campo Verde made the jump from D-II to D-I this season and has more than held its own stepping up a notch.

Corona and Campo Verde play to different strenghts. Corona is an attacking squad with two of the top scorers in the state in John Rea (23 goals) and Ryan Flood (17 goals). Campo Verde is paced by its back third led by senior defender Nathan Sandri and junior keeper Justin Zimmerman. Campo's defense clearly bested Corona's attack in this one. Corona was on the way to winning the section title a week ago when it scored three goals in the second half, the winner in the final 20 seconds, to beat Hamilton, 3-2.  The section title is likely out of reach for Corona (12-4-1, 8-2 prm) with back-to-back shutout losses in its last two matches, including a 1-0 defeat vs.Chandler. Those are the only times Corona has been shutout this season.

There is plenty of jockeying for power-ranking spots and section titles in the division with three days left in the regular season. Corona entered play  Monday No. 3 and Campo Verde was No. 10. The D-I Section I title is now Hamilton's for the taking. Hamilton is tied with Chandler for the section lead at 6-1 followed by Campo Verde (5-1-1) and Corona (5-2). Hamilton clinches its section title with a win Wednesday at Queen Creek. The Huskies own the tie-breaker with Chandler having beaten Chandler earlier, 1-0. The D-I Section II crown boils down to the winner Tuesday (Jan. 26) between Brophy and Pinnacle at Brophy. D-I Section III will go to the Highland-Gilbert winer on Wednesday at Gilbert.