Sabino's Jann Nash, right, heads the ball past Eric Edwards of Canyon del Oro during the boys championship game of the Brandon Bean Kickoff Classic on Monday night. Sabino won in a shootout.

Jill Torrance / arizona daily star

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A damaged vertebra cost Sabino goalie Chase Ronsman a sizable chunk of his sophomore campaign last year.

He didn't take long to make up for lost time.

Ronsman rejected the final two scoring attempts in a shootout that helped Sabino claim the Brandon Bean Kickoff Classic championship Monday night in a victory over Canyon del Oro at Salpointe Catholic High School.

The game was tied 2-2 after regulation and overtime. Sabino won the shootout 4-3.

"In the penalty kicks, it's about trying to read the tendencies. You want to get in their heads and try and see where they're gonna go with it before it happens," Ronsman said. "The way they line up, which side of the ball they're on, their hips. You try to look at it all."

After going the entire tournament without yielding a goal entering the title match, the CDO defense was torched in the second minute.

Sabino forward Paul Neff snared a misplayed clear by Dorados goalie Wes Baker and turned it into a 1-0 lead. Neff took the errant pass straight back at the goal and bounced the ball into the bottom-right corner of the net.

"This team didn't give up any goals to anyone for the last week, and then we make one little mistake, and it turns into a lead for them," said CDO coach Josh Marshall. "It seemed like we were trying to come back on them the rest of the night after that."

That was the lone goal of the first half.

CDO answered seven minutes into the second half when the coach's brother, Nick Marshall, emerged from a cluster near the net with an open look at the goal. He sliced a shot past Ronsman to even the score.

With CDO seemingly still in celebration mode, Sabino immediately went on the attack, grabbing a 2-1 lead in the next minute when Jann Nash found Neff streaking toward the goal, and hit him with a precisely placed feed. Neff did the rest.

"(Nash) set up that one-two combination for me perfectly," Neff said. "The way he got me the ball, that was beautiful."

But once again, the Dorados responded. In the 61st minute, midfielder Travis Gardner broke free from his defender, and Caleb Cristia found Gardner with room to spare. Gardner turned the opportunity into the game-tying goal.

Neither team scored through two 10-minute overtime periods, sending the contest into the shootout.

After the first three attempts were easily converted by each side, Ronsman made a diving save on a shot by Marshall that was headed for the bottom-left corner. Ronsman then rejected Cristia's shot to end the contest and give Sabino the title.

"This team has been together awhile, and now it's our time to start winning these things," Ronsman said. "The adrenaline was going, and we came together."