Catalina Foothills wins the 5A Sonoran Region

February 4, 2025 by Andy Morales, AZPreps365


Olivia DeConcini heads the ball into the net in the 52nd minute off of a corner kick from Mackenzie Goodman. (Andy Morales/AZPreps365)

Catalina Foothills entered Tuesday night ranked No. 10 in the 5A Conference with a chance to win the Sonoran Region with a victory over No. 13 Canyon del Oro at home and the Falcons pulled it off thanks to two successful corner kicks to end the regular season with a 9-2-1 record in power-ranking matches.

The Falcons also entered the night ranked No. 30 in the Open Division, which puts the team on the edge of advancing to that bracket with the top 32 teams from 4A, 5A and 6A qualifying for the Open Division. The first round of the Open Division for girls is set for Tuesday, Feb. 11 and the second round for Thursday, Feb. 13. If a team loses in one of the first two rounds they are sent back to their respective conference state tournaments. So, if the Falcons do make the Open Division they will have a difficult match against a team ranked in the top five on the road but will have the opportunity to have a more favorable seeding in the 5A state playoffs if the team loses.

The Dorados are on 7-4 in power-ranking matches with one more regular season match set at No. 23 Nogales (5-5-1) Friday night. Canyon del Oro is ranked too low at the moment to qualify for the Open Division at No. 39 but the Dorados are on pace to host a favorable 5A play-in match on Thursday, Feb. 13. If CDO wins that match then the Dorados will advance to the 5A state tournament set to start on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

In the match Tuesday night, Kailyn O'Connell connected off a corner kick from Mackenzie Goodman in the 37th minute and then Goodman spotted another corner kick to Olivia DeConcini in the 52nd minute. Both kicks from Goodman were perfectly placed with DeConcini finding the net off of a header.