West Liberty's 'Los Cometas' knock off defending champ Columbus

DES MOINES - Muy bien, Los Cometas."Teamwork, man," said Rafael Ibarra, after West Liberty upset defending champion Waterloo Columbus in a Class 1A state soccer tournament quarterfinal Thursday afternoon at Cownie Park. "This was a team win. Without the entire team, we couldn't have done it."Without tiny sophomore Ibarra, West Liberty couldn't have done it. He crossed a ball that teammate Ramayan Rivera headed into the net in the first half, then his marvelous individual effort produced his 19th goal this season early in the second half.That turned out to be enough cushion. Columbus (14-3) closed within 2-1 with 24 minutes left, but Las Cometas held on.Sixteen of the 19 players on the Comets' roster are of Hispanic descent. Ibarra, for instance, moved with his family from Arizona and is playing prep soccer for the first time."It was a team effort," said Rivera, through translator and teammate Raudel Fierro. "We knew that who came out on top was who wanted the game more those last 20 minutes. We were here, and we didn't want to disappoint all of our fans who came all the way here from West Liberty. We did it.""Overall, I thought we played well," said West Liberty coach Mike Gunn. "Our strategy was to move it forward, but also to maintain a strong defense. We did that."West Liberty (10-6-3) is in the semifinals for a second straight year and will face Iowa City Regina (13-1) at 12:05. Regina won the regular-season match between the two semifinalists, 2-1."We know we can beat them," Rivera said. "They beat us in the regular season. It's just a matter of executing, playing well. The rest will just take care of itself."