Two first half goals were sufficient to advance the Phoenix Country Day Eagles into the 3A boys’ championship game.

Enduring hot afternoon weather in Scottsdale, Odyssey Academy found themselves slow off the mark in their first final four appearance.

Approaching the half hour mark, the Eagles made them pay for that start as a corner found its way through to Devin Bansal, who duly delivered.

“Too many of our defenders went ball side and left the back side open,” Minotaurs coach John Snyder said. “We’ve talked about looking over your shoulder and we didn’t do it, so they capitalize.”

Shortly after, Minotaurs goalkeeper Gabriel Thurman’s save fell into the path of Connor Lloyd, who doubled his side’s advantage.

Despite a much more open second half, Odyssey Academy couldn’t find the breakthrough that could have brought them back into the match, although the Eagles’ coach admitted concern about the impact that a goal for the trailing side would have had.

“You get to this point, and anyone can take you out,” Andrew Rodin said. “So it’s a question of just managing our game and trying to deal with the heat a little bit and persevering.”

Phoenix Country Day will face top-seeded ALA-Gilbert North for the 3A title at 12pm on Saturday, but with little time to prepare, their coach doesn’t have much time to plan adjustments.

“We’ll be working on nothing,” Robin laughed. “We’ll be hydrating.”