Coyote Classic Soccer: Chandler boys strike quickly in defeating Mtn. View, 5-0

December 6, 2014 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


First-game jitters? Not Chandler High's Daniel Corona and at least not in terms of production.

Corona, the lone freshman on coach Sasha Hunter's varsity roster, produced a hat trick in his varsity debut Saturday morning leading the Wolves to a 5-0 victory over Mesa Mountain View in pool play at the 2nd annual Coyote Classic at Campo Verde High School.

Corona really didn't have time for jitters. He tucked home the first of three goals in the left corner of the net less than a minute into Chandler's season opener. Corona, didn't have the look of a freshman with his play from start to finish and tacked on his second and third goals about five minutes apart late in the second half to close out a methodical victory. Chandler scored three goals in the first 15 minutes.

"It's nice to start the season the way we did," Hunter said. "We don't have too many freshmen out here for four years. We played well and were able to sit some guys for some extra rest. We did a good job staying with it for the most part after getting a big lead right away."

Also scoring goals in the first half for Chandler were Carter Rumsey and Victor Castro.

"This is my fourth year and  I think we have the chemistry where I like it," Hunter said. We have a group here that can make something happen."

In the opening match of the tournament played at the ripe hour of 7:30 a.m., host Campo Verde made the most of limited chances in the first half, scoring late in the half and defeating Perry, 1-0.

Campo Verde was able to fend off several chances in the first half with solid goal tending from Briley Guarneri. In the 36th minute following a throw in, Campo Verde defender Nathan Smith gained possession deep in the box and was able to feed Gary Taylor who tapped it home for what proved to be the game winner.

"Set-piece  wise we did well, but in terms of flow Perry played much better than we did," Campo Verde coach Andrew Guarneri said. "Our organization wasn't good at times, and we tended to skip midfield. It's a good win for us. I don't know if I'd want to catch (Perry) later in the year."

In the other boys' pool play games contested on Saturday, Dobson blanked Basha, 3-0 and Highland shut out Red Mountain, 4-0.

Girls began pool play in the afternoon with a trio of matches. In the first contest Chandler edged Mountain Pointe, 2-1. Basha took down Arcadia, 5-0 and  and Campo Verde bested Perry, 2-0.

The second year of the tournament, that features 12 boys and 12 girls teams, received a boost with the Diablo Classic packing it in. Many of the perennial participants from the Diablo Classic shifted to the field at Campo Verde to make the tournament much stronger. The Coyotee Classic featured four boys teams and four girls teams last year.

All teams play three pool matches over the course of six days. Matches are all played on Campo Verde's turf field and begin each day early to mid-afternoon and continue through the evening. The top teams in each of the three pools qualify based on a point system with a wild-card team (highest point-total not a pool champ) also qualifying for the semifinals. Semis will be played Saturday Dec. 13 early in the day with the finals in late afternoon and early evening.