ROGERS -- Ricky Iturriaga bounced up and down high atop a pile of Fort Smith Northside teammates.
The senior earned his joyride after drilling a high, hard kick into the right corner of the net in the 76th minute to lead the Grizzlies to a 2-1 victory against Springdale in the semifinals of the Class 7A state boys soccer tournament Saturday at Gates Stadium.
7A State Soccer Tournament
Boys
At Rogers Heritage
FS Northside 2, Springdale High 1
Rogers High 1, LR Catholic 0
Championship Match
At Razorback Field, Fayetteville
FS Northside vs. Rogers High
Girls
Bryant 1, Bentonville High 0
Rogers High 2, FS Southside 1
Championship Match
At Razorback Field, Fayetteville
Bryant vs. Rogers High
Note: Times and dates for state championship matches will be determined later today.
Fort Smith Northside advances to face Rogers for the state championship next weekend.
With the match tied at 1-1, Iturriaga got a feed from Oved Lopez in a crowded box and saw an opening. His kick went cleanly into the top-right corner.
"The forward, Geo [Lopez], just touched it to me and I shot it in," Iturriaga said. "I've scored like three goals from that distance before. This feels really good to be going to state."
Northside Coach Mauricio Maciel said Iturriaga positioned himself perfectly for the match-winning shot.
"Good players, they just know where to be, they have a sense of where the ball might be going," Maciel said. "He knew exactly where to go."
Springdale (19-2-1) ended a 0-0 deadlock when Jose Vega found the back of the net from about 15 yards out in the 50th minute. Northside (15-5-1) keeper Eric Flores had a save just seconds before and batted away a Springdale shot, but Vega corralled the loose ball and put it in.
The Bulldogs had another chance at a goal a few minutes later when Javier Solis had a shot hit the left post, then ricochet over and hit the right post, but the ball did not cross the goal line.
A strong wind had an effect on the match for both teams that resulted in a 0-0 halftime tie, but both Northside goals came against the wind in the second half.
Jason Forsey tied the match at 1-1 at the 26-minute mark when he put a header into an open goal after Springdale keeper Jesus Barroso got caught in a crowd and went to the turf. A Northside player chipped the ball over to Forsey, who headed it into the open net.
Cramping was also a factor for both teams, and Vega left the match for about five minutes with leg cramps.
Twice the Bulldogs had shots on goal in the closing minutes. Mark Solis missed a header at the 2:26 mark, and Heiriberto Razo was wide left with a header with 1:15 left. Springdale had a free kick from about 40 yards with under 10 seconds left, but Northside stopped it as the horn sounded.
Sports on 05/13/2018