AURORA | A capsule look at the four games involving Aurora teams in the first round of the 2018 Class 5A boys state soccer playoffs scheduled to be played on Oct. 25, 2018:
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Sentinel Prep Sports
2018 CLASS 5A BOYS SOCCER 1ST ROUND MATCHUPS
(30) GREELEY WEST (5-8-2) VS. (3) GRANDVIEW (13-1-1)
4 p.m., Legacy Stadium
Breakdown: Greeley West comes into the postseason as the 10th-place team out of the Front Range League, home of the No. 1 (Fairview) and No. 2 (Boulder) overall seeds, along with No. 5 Legacy and No. 7 Fort Collins…The Spartans have lost seven straight games coming into the postseason (including a 1-0 loss to Boulder) and last won on Sept. 25 with a defeat of Poudre. The 2-1 win over the Impalas also marked the last time a goal was scored for Greeley West, which has gone 14 halves without a goal and have scored 10 on the entire season in 15 games…Grandview finished as the Centennial League champions for a second straight season and bring a five-game winning streak into the postseason, including an 8-2 victory over Cherokee Trail in the de facto league championship game…Coach Brian Wood’s team has been prolific offensively and has scored multiple goals in 12 straight games dating back to a 0-0 tie with Fort Collins Aug. 28…Fourteen Wolves have scored at least one goal on the season, with senior Jaime Luna leading the way with 10, followed by senior Noe Ortiz Pena (a transfer from William Smith) with seven, while senior Raymond Jackson is the team’s assist leader with eight, while Ortiz Pena and senior Ian Oltman have racked up six apiece…Senior keeper Cobi Wood sports a .725 goals against average and has been in the nets for seven shutouts. Winner: The Greeley West-Grandview winner moves on to the second round where it will face either No. 19 Rangeview or No. 14 Mountain Range.
(27) LEGEND (10-5) VS. (6) CHEROKEE TRAIL (12-2-1)
4 p.m., Stutler Bowl
Breakdown: Legend comes into the postseason as the No. 5 team from a Continental League that was filled with parity this season, though the league produced only one top-16 seed in Rock Canyon (No. 16)…The Titans lost to those Jaguars in their regular season finale and have dropped three of their last four games after a 9-2 start…Senior Sean Marek is Legend’s goal-scoring leader with 11, a total boosted by hat tricks against Vista PEAK and Douglas County. Junior Ben Rosenbach and senior Nick Bernardoni have added five goals apiece, while Marek and Rosenbach share the team lead in assists with three apiece…Cherokee Trail finished in second place in the Centennial League standings after an 8-2 loss in its regular season finale to Grandview, the No. 3 overall seed. Before that, the Cougars had won 11 straight games dating back to a 2-1 loss to the 12th-seeded Far Northeast Warriors Sept. 4…Cherokee Trail has nearly doubled its goal output from the 2017 season and is paced by senior Mike Menzies, who has scored in eight games and has 15 on the season. Seniors Dylan Reimer and Mitchell Martinez each have scored seven goals and seniors Marcello Barretto and Ben Garcia — the team’s assist lead with six — have tallied six apiece. The Cougars’ defense, with Luke Eyolfson in the net, has played well minus the eight goals allowed in the season finale…Winner: The Legend-Cherokee Trail winner moves on to the second round where it will face either No. 11 Ralston Valley or No. 22 Cherry Creek.
(19) RANGEVIEW (11-4) VS. (14) MOUNTAIN RANGE (9-5-1)
4 p.m., North Stadium
Breakdown: Rangeview won the EMAC Championship with just one loss in league play, though it lost on the field to Hinkley and later received a forfeit. The Raiders come into the postseason on a two-game winning streak and have nine of their last 10 contests, including the forfeit. Four of Rangeview’s five non-league opponents made the 5A playoffs in No. 3 Grandview, No. 6 Cherokee Trail, No. 12 Far Northeast Warriors and No. 23 Rocky Mountain…Rangeview’s offense has produced 72 goals and the team hasn’t been shut out yet in 15 contests on the season, with only Grandview able to keep the Raiders to one goal and that came back in the season-opener Aug. 23. Junior Rashid Seidu-Aroza has scored 25 goals, the most in 5A this season, while senior Alexis Flores has notched 17 and senior Wally Solanke 12 as the main offensive forces. Flores has assisted on 17 scores with senior Jason Chavez just behind him with 16. In the nets, senior Francisco Avila sports a 2.216 goals against average…Mountain Range finished just in the upper half of the standings of the Front Range League, which features the No. 1 (Fairview) and No. 2 (Boulder) seeds in the postseason, as well as No. 5 Legacy and No. 7 Fort Collins…The Mustangs lost to the Knights (2-0) and Panthers (2-1) in their final two contests and have dropped three straight coming into the postseason, though they beat Broomfield and Fort Collins prior to the late skid…Senior forward Slayter Andolsek paces Mountain Range in goals with 12, while juniors Kaloyan Barov and Rick Allison have tallied five apiece, while Andolsek and junior Bryson Riedel share the team lead in assists with six each. Defensively, the Mustangs have yielded more than two goals in just one game (four against Vista PEAK), while holding teams to one or zero goals eight times…Winner: The Rangeview-Mountain Range winner moves on to the second round where it will face either No. 30 Greeley West or No. 3 Grandview.
(21) REGIS JESUIT (8-5-2) VS. (12) FAR NORTHEAST WARRIORS ( )
7 p.m., Montbello Campus
Breakdown: Regis Jesuit comes into the postseason as the Continental League champions, as the Raiders ended up on top of the standings by holding the tiebreakers with co-league leaders Rock Canyon (No. 16) and Castle View (No. 25). The Raiders — who had a productive trip to play in the Jesuit Classic in Washington, D.C. — have won four straight games coming into the playoffs…Regis Jesuit has scored just 29 goals in 15 games, but senior Colton Barry has racked up 12 of them, including the game-winning goals in every one of the team’s recent wins. Senior Ben Cavarra has tallied nine, while only one other player has more than one…Far Northeast Warriors finished as the No. 3 team out of the Denver Prep League, which is headed by fourth-seeded Denver East. The Warriors dropped a 4-1 decision to the Angels in their regular season finale…Junior Alex Ortiz finished the regular season with the second-most goals in all of 5A (20) and has nine games with multiple goals. Junior Marco Ochoa has added six goals for a team that scored just one more goal than it gave up on the season…Winner: The Regis Jesuit-Far Northeast Warriors moves on to the second round where it will face either No. 5 Legacy or No. 28 Westminster.