Five games into the season, Verde Valley School’s coed soccer team knew it was capable of doing great things.

It had enough talent and cohesion in all areas of the field. However, it is easier said than done for a team that understands its capability to achieve greatness, to then actually follow through with it.

The Coyotes [13-1-2] followed through to the end, defeating Phoenix Collegiate Academy, 7-4, to win the Canyon Athletic Association coed Divison 1 state championship on May 5 at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Phoenix.

“It’s really satisfying. I think it’s most satisfying when you have a team that you know can do something that you know have the potential to win, even potentially the whole thing,” VVS head coach Andy Gill said. “Oftentimes even if you have a team that can do it, they don’t. So to actually make it count when it really matters — especially like in the semifinals when it was really tight, a 1-0 game — it was really satisfying to just be able to play to our potential.

“We had the most balanced team I’ve had for a long time and the strongest, right through the starting 11 and into the [substitutes].”

The No. 2 seed Coyotes defeated No. 6 BASIS – Phoenix in the semifinals, while No. 5 Phoenix Collegiate Academy took down No. 1 seed Orme School — which handed VVS its only losses of the season — 3-2 in the other semifinal.

In the championship game, VVS was led by junior forward Pietro “Roberto” Pirreca, who scored a hat trick and registered two assists. Senior Alexandre Tehfi scored two goals while sophomores Gus Muller and Emily Amadei netted one each. Senior Houcine Ellatir provided three assists and Amadei one.

“Since I’m here in America, it’s definitely the best game I’ve ever had, and I think my goals have been really needing for the team, but the most important thing is that we won and we are state champions, that’s it,” Pirreca said. “From a scale from one to 10, definitely a 10 …. At the end, the sensation was amazing. I was so happy.”

Senior goalkeeper William Schwimdenhammer recorded six saves in goal. Schwinmdenhammer replaced usual starter Ken-no-suke “Ken” Tokumitsu, who was playing in the state golf tournament instead.

The championship is the school’s first in the CAA, which it has been a part of for 20 to 25 years, Gill said. The team, which always benefits from international players, won state titles while it was a part of the Arizona Interscholastic Association in the 1980s and 1990s, according to Gill.

VVS was leading 4-2 in the second half before Phoenix Collegiate Academy scored the two best goals Gill had seen all season to knot things up. The strikes came within a 10-minute stretch, and despite action-packed play in the final minutes, the game eventually went to extra time.

“Even in the last few minutes, we had chances to score, they had chances to score. It was hot in the mouth,” Gill said. “I think we had good forwards and they had good forwards.”

Neither team scored in the first period of extra time, then the Coyotes netted three in the second to seal the win.
Lee Heselton, a freshman midfielder from Denver, Colo., said she never expected to win a championship when she came to the school.

“It was sort of surreal, because once we got up two goals I knew we were probably going to keep that because there were only three minutes left, and it was sort of insane,” Heselton said. “I watched the clock go down the last three seconds and it was, like, everything went in slow motion a little bit and it was like everything felt sort of fake.
“I guess I never thought I would end up being an Arizona state champion.”

Pirreca and Elattir formed a pivotal partnership that helped propel the Coyotes in attack all season long. Pirreca, who grew up playing in the youth system at Italy Serie B [second division] club U.S. Citta di Palmermo, totaled 32 goals and 14 assists. Elattir had 10 goals and 12 assists.

Both were named to the 2018 CAA All-State Co-Ed Division 1 Soccer Team.

The two linked up to score the game’s opening goal. Pirreca assisted on the second to go up 2-1, but PCA’s header made it 2-2 at halftime. Pirreca dribbled nearly the entire length of the field to scored the team’s third.

“[Their connection] is so strong that every time they picked up the ball they would look to pass to each other. Sometimes to the point where they should pass to other people, but they didn’t, because it’s one of those things where they just want to play with each other and they just want to go round people and pass people,” Gill said. “When I’d have Roberto and Alex and Houcine in together, in some ways it was impossible to stop them because they wanted to go past people. They had a great connection, and they’re also really good friends off the field. They live in the same dorm.”

Tehfi scored on a counterattack, assisted by Elattir, after defending a corner kick to make it 4-2 before the two wonder strikes evened the score.

“It was definitely, I think, the most equally matched game that we’ve played this season,” Heselton said. “We were definitely the stronger team. They had just a few good players, but they were able to get it to those players and keep their stamina up. But it was pretty difficult.”

Pirreca arrived in the spring semester and leaves the school at the conclusion of the year. Six starters will be gone from the starting 11, leaving Gill to wonder how he will put together a squad for the following season. But it always seems to work out.

“It’s like this every year, especially in our school, because we get so many new kids,” Gill said. “I did that at the end of last year, I was like, ‘Oh, how are we going to do it?’ and then we get new people who are fantastic.”

All Gill and his coaching staff should be worrying about for now is celebrating their championship.