RIO GRANDE COUNTY – By the time Ignacio’s girls soccer team arrived Friday afternoon at Del Norte High School and walked onto the pitch to begin warm-up drills, electricity had already been absent, townwide, for at least two hours according to DNHS Athletic Director Gilbert Sanchez’s estimate.
The Bobcats were trying to bring some electricity to the pitch by replicating IHS’ previous victory, an 8-3 rout of the Tigers back on April 4, 2024, upon the very same synthetic surface.
Eight goals may have done the job in the past, but with just eight uniformed players in the present Ignacio fell 5-0 with the 2A Intermountain-South match terminated in the 21st minute after IHS sophomore co-captain Jada Davis suffered a right-ankle injury.
Coming not 10 seconds after the kickoff following DNHS junior Lauren Schrock’s goal, a finish of junior Emma Parra’s crossing pass initially deflected by Bobcat senior goalkeeper Bella Lorenzini, Davis’ departure left Gruber with only six serviceable (junior Catori Aasland had already reaggravated her previously-injured left knee) players, and left the officials no choice but to end the proceedings early.
IHS senior Juliann Avila kicked off the contest, but Parra netted its first goal barely three minutes in, and junior Makenzie Consaul doubled Del Norte’s lead not long after. Sophomore Ella Cowett then scored the home team’s third goal via a high chip, barely clearing Parra at the near post, off Lorenzini’s outstretched right glove as she tried backhanding it out.
Ignacio (1-7 overall, 0-2 league) actually managed one promising attack on DNHS junior goalie Kahlena Atencio but Avila couldn’t put the ball on frame after a trailing defender caught up with her just inside the Tigers’ 18-yard box.
Parra then took a pass from sophomore Oralic Archuleta and finished a breakaway, increasing the margin to 4-0. Lorenzini, however, then recomposed herself and made three (of her seven total) stops – including an improbable leg-drag kick save denying Parra – in quick succession, but Aasland exited to the trainer’s table shortly thereafter.
Del Norte improved to 3-3 overall, 2-1 in league.
Ignacio will next see action on Thursday at 3A Pagosa Springs.
PAGOSA SPRINGS BOUNCES BAYFIELD: Shaken up and slow to walk off the Wolverine Country Stadium grass after a 26th-minute collision with Pagosa Springs junior Tatiana Monterroso, senior goalkeeper Lily Muir’s absence for the rest of the match hurt hosting Bayfield more than a 6-1 loss Tuesday afternoon to the rival Pirates.
Thrown right into the 3A Intermountain League fray after a hurried warm-up session behind BHS’ bench, freshman backup Macy Robinette did her best, and actually stopped Pagosa Springs junior Ximena Garcia’s 27th-minute attempt – the first test she faced – to keep the match deadlocked at 1-1.
Having registered the visitors’ equalizing goal back in the 11th by shooting accurately over an oncoming Muir, Garcia made sure her next try set the tone for the rest of the contest. Leading a two-on-one rush at Robinette with senior Terriana Cage, who’d set up Garcia’s first score, to her right, Garcia finished the play and put PSHS up 2-1 in the 29th.
She struck again in the 35th, completing her hat trick and increasing PSHS’ lead to two goals at intermission. Cage then converted a Monterroso pass into the Pirates’ fourth goal just three minutes after the 10-minute respite, and sophomore Ellie Vining’s goals in the 54th and 57th minutes effectively nailed down the side’s road win.
Bayfield, meanwhile, failed to register a shot on second-half switch Garcia (sophomore Zariah Blankenship played the first 40 minutes) until the 68th when junior Jacqueline Boyce put a hard roller on target, then another not long after. Garcia, however, saw each clearly and calmly crouched to scoop up both.
The way the match ended, however, was nothing like how it began. Ending BHS’ four-match scoreless streak, freshman Eden Krokos capitalized on senior Avery Shipman’s near-post deflection of junior Mia Sager’s corner kick, taken from Blankenship’s left, and put the ball into the guests’ exposed net – giving the Wolverines a 1-0 edge in just the sixth minute.