The Millennium Tigers will head out on the road to take on the Sunrise Mountain Mustangs at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Millennium had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. Their defense stepped up to hand McClintock a 7-0 shutout on Thursday. Millennium's winning goal came courtesy of Jada Rodriguez.
Millennium's lineup was just a bit different on Thursday as Rodriguez got a bit more time on the pitch (70 vs. her season average of 41.07). Rodriguez made the most of the opportunity, scoring a goal and five steals. A few more games like that and she might be seeing even more time going forward.
Meanwhile, Sunrise Mountain came tearing into two weeks ago's match with eight straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 6.8 goals) and they left with even more momentum. They were the clear victor by a 4-0 margin over Paradise Valley. Given Sunrise Mountain's advantage in MaxPreps' Arizona soccer rankings (they are ranked 18th, while Paradise Valley is ranked 82nd), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Millennium is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight matches, which provided a nice bump to their 13-3-1 record this season. As for Sunrise Mountain, they pushed their record up to 14-3 with that victory, which was their sixth straight on the road.
Millennium came out on top in a nail-biter against Sunrise Mountain in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, sneaking past 1-0. Will Millennium repeat their success, or does Sunrise Mountain have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
