Defending champion Regina ousted in state soccer quarterfinals

DES MOINES - That's soccer.

Two teams can go at each other tooth and nail and each have shots on goal and fine defensive plays yet one wins because it got the ball into the net.

Third-seeded Gilbert defeated defending champion Iowa City Regina, 1-0, Thursday in a Class 1A state quarterfinal that was the epitome of the vagaries of the beautiful game.

'I thought we played a good game,” Regina Coach Rick Larew said. 'Ball just didn't bounce our way. They're a good team, about what we expected and a little bit more.”

'It's incredible,” Gilbert senior Robert Valencia-Cook said. 'Iowa City Regina is always so good, and they're always a huge contender for the title. When we saw our draw we were a little bit scared, I'm not going to lie.”

Gilbert (16-3) will play Council Bluffs St. Albert (15-4) in the semifinals Friday while Regina's season ends with an 11-7 record.

The Tigers had been to the state tournament one other time, but this was their first victory in a quarterfinal match. It came on a 40-yard free kick from the left side of the field by Valencia-Cook in the 42nd minute.

'I saw the goalie was off his line, so I thought I'm going to make him dive backwards and bounce it to one of my teammates or it's going in,” he said. 'It went in. When I saw that shot go in I was like ‘we've just got to hold them off now.' I promised some of my teammates that I'd either get a goal or assist on one.”

'That was a great free kick, upper 90,” Larew said. 'It was just that good of a shot. And it hurt.”

After that Gilbert went into a prevent defense, and it was difficult for Regina to get clear shots or passes near the box. That's not to say the Regals didn't get some chances. Emilio Tovar crossed to Michael Adam with about 7:30 left, but Adam's header sailed high. Andrew Yowell crossed to Tovar four minutes later but goalie Mitchell Daharsh caught it.

Regina's best chances came in the first half after it weathered Gilbert's first 10 minutes of a gung-ho start. Adam's header hit a post on a mostly empty net counter attack and Tovar had another couple good chances repelled.

'They played amazing,” Valencia-Cook said of the Tiger defense. 'They've been getting better throughout the season.”

'I thought we had a lot of great chances in the first half,” Larew said. 'He's a great goalie; he stopped a lot of good shots. We just couldn't get it past him. I really thought we had them on the run and they had another burst of energy, and that's to their credit. We just couldn't get a good shot in that second half.”