Salpointe girls earn top seed at Brandon Bean soccer invite

December 3, 2014 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Salpointe's Bryanna Sanchez. (Andy Morales/AIA365.com)

Salpointe Brandon Bean Kickoff Classic

Dec. 1-6

Tucson Salpointe improved to 3-0 at the preseason Brandon Bean Kickoff Classic with a 2-0 win over Marana Mountain View on Wednesday night at home. The championship rounds will take place at Salpointe but group play was held at various schools in Southern Arizona.

With the loss, Mountain View's record stands at 0-2-1. The Mountain Lions earned a 4-seed heading into bracket play on Thursday night where they will take on No. 3 Tucson Sabino at 3:30 pm.

No. 1 Salpointe will play their first bracket game on Friday afternoon against an undetermined opponent.

Senior Bryanna Sanchez scored unassisted in the 10th minute and again in the 38th for the 2-0 margin over Mountain View. Sanchez is headed to Metropolitan State of Denver next year but there is a lot she wants to accomplish before she leaves Salpointe.

"When I saw coach (Becky) Barry was going to be our new coach I knew what to expect from club," said Sanchez. "I expected discipline, hard work and dedication and more hours working on our game than I ever did my previous three years here.

"We have almost everyone returning and a lot of great freshmen. We are really solid this year and my job is to set an example and play 100 percent with no mental lapses. I want to set a standard that will be here when I'm gone."

Barry was Salpointe's MVP in 2005 before moving over to play for the University of Arizona. She is now the Youth Academy Director for the Tucson Soccer Academy and replaced longtime Lancer coach Dave Peron this winter.

Joining her on the coaching staff is former Arizona coach Lisa Fraser.

Kelly Kearns is in her second year at Mountain View. As a player, she led Salpointe to back-to-back state championships in 1998 and 1999 before going to Pima. She now plays for TSAFC of the Women's Premier Soccer League and earned all-conference honors two years in a row.

There are only three seniors on Mountain View's roster with Kiley Hancock being the obvious leader of the squad.

"We are a young team," explained Kearns. "We have a lot of potential for growth and they are all like little sponges taking in so much information. Salpointe is a good team and we didn’t take advantage of the few opportunities we had but they stayed strong. They showed what they could do last night when they came back and tied Sabino in the final moments.

Sabino and Mountain View played to a 1-1 tie and, as mentioned before, will play each other again in bracket play.

The Brandon Bean Classic features both boys and girls with the championship matches scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6.