Sunnyside will have the opportunity to defend its Class 5A state championship on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Mountain View following its 5-2 win over Peoria Sunrise Mountain today behind three goals by senior Fabian Mendoza.
The top-seeded Blue Devils (24-1) also had two goals from senior Demille Flores in the victory over Peoria Sunrise Mountain (18-2) at Mountain View. The Blue Devils will play the winner of No. 2 Glendale Ironwood or No. 3 Phoenix Carl Hayden on Tuesday in the title match.
Mendoza scored on a penalty kick, free kick and a cross/own goal.
Carlos Frias, one of the three senior captains on the team, assisted Flores’ goals.
Sunnyside, 48-1-2 in the last two years, is coming off its first state title in school history last season.
Mendoza leads the Blue Devils with 22 goals following today’s hat trick. Flores is next with 21. Adrian Burruel-Valenzuela, who had two goals Wednesday in the quarterfinal win over Queen Creek Casteel, has 18 goals.
The two goals allowed by Sunnyside today were more than what they allowed in the six previous games, a stretch in which they outscored the opposition 31-1.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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