The Durango High School girls soccer team stayed perfect on the year with a 6-0 shutout over Grand Junction High School on Friday at DHS.
The Demons improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League with the win, outscoring their opponents 27-2 so far this season. Grand Junction slipped to 1-4, 0-1.
“I’m excited; it’s been fun,” said DHS head coach Melissa Halonen. “It’s a fun group of girls, and the joy that’s coming out of practices and games is why we’re playing so well. I want to keep that going.”
DHS is ranked No. 5 in Class 4A.
Emery Miller got the scoring going for Durango just a little over three minutes into Friday’s game. Mason Rowland threw the ball in deep into Grand Junction’s goal box, and it bounced over the goalie. Miller received the ball facing the opposite direction, but kicked the ball backward into the net to give Durango the early advantage.
Durango kept the pressure on, but had its next two goals, from Rowland and Miller, were waved off because of an offside call and a foul.
At the 21-minute mark, however, Emy Mattox doubled Durango’s lead. Her first shot was saved, but the rebound bounced back to her and she buried her second attempt into the right side of the net.
Six minutes later, Rowland scored her first of two goals in the game, putting DHS up 3-0.
Goalie Jocelyn Feir wasn’t challenged often in the half, but she saved a long shot, grabbed a corner kick that slipped through and smothered a free kick. Defenders Carter Neiman, Lindsey Johnstohn, Mattox, Lexy Behn and Adde Neiman didn’t give Grand Junction any easy looks and helped the team possess the ball.
In the second half, DHS possessed the ball a vast majority of the time, which is what the team has focused on.
“Both the JV and varsity are working on a possession style of play, creating more dynamic runs and overlapping runs instead of direct attacks,” Halonen said.
Sophie Ragsdale scored just over two minutes into the half when she bounced a shot off the far post and in. Miller assisted her.
DHS continued attacking, and Sarah Somrak capitalized in the 30th minute when, from the left side of the field, she kicked the ball over the goalie and into the side netting.
Rowland scored the team’s sixth goal a little over a minute later, getting a pass from Riley Campbell deep in Grand Junction territory and then beating the goalie 1-on-1 with a shot just beyond her dive.
Campbell assisted Somrak too.
With a 6-0 lead, DHS put a lot of its backup players in the game. They continued to control the game.
“Everybody got some good playing time,” Halonen said. “That shows the depth of this group – we can put different people in, and our level doesn’t drop.”
Rowland also came out of the game and didn’t return after taking a cleat to the face, but the coach said she’s OK, just scratched up.
“They just compete,” Halonen said. “They’re workhorses, and they aren’t afraid to go hard. It’s fun to see how competitive they are.”
Durango will play again at 2 p.m. Saturday at Telluride. DHS beat the Miners (3-3) earlier this season 4-1.
Next week will also be big for DHS – the team will host league foes Grand Junction Central at 6 p.m. Friday and Montrose at noon Saturday. Montrose is undefeated at 5-0. Central is 2-2, but fell to the Demons 3-1 Tuesday.