No. 16 Salpointe beat No. 17 Walden Grove 1-0 on a goal from Emma Veliz (Jhianae DesRosier) in the 24th minute Tuesday night to stay alive in the Open Division. The match was another in a long line of rivalry tilts between the two programs.

The rivalry started on Dec. 1, 2011 when Walden Grove beat Salpointe 4-0. It was the first match in program history for Walden Grove, with the school opening in 2011 to underclassmen only, and it set things in motion. Salpointe leads the overall series between the two porgrams 10-5-4 but three of those victories came in overtime and PKs including a 4-2 victory in PKs in the 2022 semifinal round. In fact, since 2022, Salpointe barely leads the series 3-2-3 but that’s not good news for other 4A teams.

Walden Grove won a 2015 state championship with former head coach Carey Bauer (Mclaughlin) leading the way, Salpointe won a state title in 2017 behind Becky Freeman, and then Salpointe went on to win five of the next six championships behind Kelly Pierce. As mentioned before, Salpointe knocked Walden Grove out of the semifinals in 2022, and that was followed up by a 2-1 victory over Walden Grove in the 2023 title match. Then, Walden Grove beat Salpointe 3-1 to win the 2024 state championship behind Troy Bosley.

This year, Salpointe and Walden Grove (now coached by Jose Miranda) played to a 0-0 tie in the regular season before Salpointe beat Walden Grove 1-0 in the first round of the Open Division Tuesday night at home. Salpointe will play at No.1 Casteel on Thursday night and Walden Grove advances to the 4A state championship which starts Feb. 18. If Salpointe loses to 6A power Casteel then the Lancers will also advance to the 4A bracket under the rules of the Open Division. It takes two victories to get locked into the Open.

4A top-ranked Prescott beat Paradise Honors 5-0 to stay alive in the Open Division so things appear to be shifting back to Salpointe and Walden Grove being favorites to win the 4A state championship.