The Sunrise Mountain Mustangs will be playing in front of their home fans against the Millennium Tigers at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Sunrise Mountain came tearing into two weeks ago's game 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. Their defense stepped up to hand Paradise Valley a 4-0 shutout. 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.
Sunrise Mountain hit Paradise Valley with a three-pronged attack, as the team got scores from
Bella Arcadi (2),
Sara Stewart, and
Lulu McIntosh.
Meanwhile, Millennium had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They blew past McClintock 7-0. Winning may never get old, but Millennium sure is getting used to it with their third in a row.
Millennium's lineup was just a bit different on Thursday as Jada 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.
Sunrise Mountain is on a roll lately: they've won ten of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-3 record this season. As for Millennium, their win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 13-3-1.
