AURORA | Though Vic Strouse isn’t the biggest fan of two-goal leads from a momentum standpoint, he was more than glad his Rangeview boys soccer team held a 2-o edge on rival Gateway at halftime Thursday evening.
Seniors Jalen Sanchez and Ivan Enriquez scored goals in the opening half — the latter coming in the closing minutes — and the Raiders kept the pressure on from start to finish for a huge 3-0 EMAC victory over the Olys at Aurora Public Schools Stadium.
Sophomore Alexis Flores added a goal in the second half on a penalty kick and Rangeview locked up the league championship by winning the battle of the two teams that came into the game undefeated in EMAC play.
Strouse’s Raiders moved to 11-1-1 overall and 8-0-1 with one league contest left — a game with 4-8-1 Prairie View to conclude the regular season on Oct. 18 — but would own the tiebreaker with coach Olaf Siverson’s Olys (11-2-1, 7-1-1) should they lose that one.
With emotions running high in the opening half because of the intensity of the rivalry, both teams desperately sought the first goal and if came from Sanchez, who hustled his way to his team-leading ninth goal of the season in the 26th minute.
Enriquez doubled the lead with an important goal with two minutes left in the half.
Flores helped Strouse take a breath by pushing the lead to three goals when he put a penalty kick shot — the result of a hand ball call in the goal box against a Gateway defender — past Olys keeper Erick Torres into the net.
Gateway also has a league contest left against Northglenn on Oct. 18 to conclude the regular season.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
RANGEVIEW 3, GATEWAY 0
Score by halves:
Gateway 0 0 — 0
Rangeview 2 1 — 3
SCORING
First half
Rangeview — Jalen Sanchez, 26th minute
Rangeview — Ivan Enriquez, 38th minute
Second half
Rangeview — Alexis Flores (PK), 63rd minute
