If a fan arrived at the start of the second half of the Durango High School girls soccer game against Fruita Monument, they arrived at the perfect time to see all the action in a 3-1 victory for the Demons.
Durango and Fruita were like two boxers feeling each other out in the first half. Each team threw jabs, but neither of them could land a big body blow or head shot. Durango controlled the game but couldn’t score, and the game was scoreless in the first half.
The fireworks started in the second half, and after allowing their second goal this month, the Demons found their offense. Durango looked like itself again, moving the ball and attacking the Fruita defenders from space. The Demons scored twice in the last 10 minutes to seal a senior night win they deserved.
“Our players started to find some of the lanes that we wanted to get into with Fruita’s defense, and it really paid off for us,” Durango head coach Zac Keeler said. “Our players really started to work together as a unit, communicated, started to find some good seams and got ourselves some opportunities inside the box.”
The Demons improved to 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League. Junior Ellis Campbell, sophomore Lia Schowalter and sophomore Alyza Griego each scored for Durango.
Fruita dropped to 3-5-2 overall and 3-4-1 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.
Before the game, Durango honored its seniors, Ryne Neiman, Hadley Denny, Amelia Jensen, Josie Phare and Riley Smith.
“It means the world, especially with this being our last regular-season home game here at our home field,” Neiman said. “Today was just a great testament to our team and our culture, because it takes a lot to score four goals in one half and to come back from being tied. It just goes to show how good of a team we are and how much we have each other’s backs.”
Durango possessed the ball for most of the first 10 minutes, but didn’t create any great chances as it struggled to find space in the attacking third. Fruita was sloppy with its passes, and Durango easily won the ball back whenever it lost it.
The Demons started using the long ball and the through ball a lot more later in the first half, but the Demons couldn’t connect, usually putting the ball too long on the quick turf. The first half ended with a scoreless tie.
“We had a bit of a stagnant attack,” Keeler said. “We were waiting for someone else to make something happen. We kind of forgot that it takes the team to really create the space and give us good opportunities.”
It only took four minutes of pressure for the Demons to strike in the second half.
Durango looked crisper with its movements and ball movement right from the opening kickoff. Junior Lila Scherer-Sickler always seems to be the one who has the best measure of the speed of the turf, and she placed a great through ball down the left side. Campbell got the ball in the middle of the 18-yard box, turned and shot. The ball was deflected by the keeper, but found the corner of the net for the 1-0 lead with 36 minutes to go.
Only three minutes later, Fruita responded. The Wildcats were given a questionable foul, resulting in a free kick from about 25 yards out. Fruita’s forward kicked it through the crowd and past Neiman for the equalizer.
“After getting scored on, I knew that it was going to light a fire under us,” Neiman said. “We have very talented girls on our team, and I never doubted that we were going to come back … and I know they want to win just as much as I do. I know they have my back, and I’ll have theirs.”
Durango really seemed to pick up the urgency after the Fruita goal, finding a lot of space in the middle of the field. The Demons got a break when the Fruita keeper left the 18-yard box with the ball in her hands, resulting in a free kick at the edge of the 18-yard box. The Demons crushed it over the net with 10 minutes left.
Only a minute later, the Demons were given a huge break with a penalty kick off a handball in the 18-yard box. Schowalter buried it into the lower right corner for the 2-1 lead with 9:51 left.
The second goal seemed to shake up the Fruita defense and give Durango some more bounce in its step. Fruita really struggled with its goal kicks, and Durango took advantage, nearly scoring with a ball off the crossbar.
Scherer-Sickler continued to create offense on the left side. She beat her defender down the goal line from the left, ripped a shot on goal, and Griego was there for the rebound right on the goal line to make it 3-1 with seven minutes left.
“The girls really started to listen to their teammates a little bit more and get those spaces that they could move into,” Keeler said about the second half. “It was also very helpful for players to recognize that the team (Fruita) was in a 4-4-2, so we could try to put a press on them, so they couldn’t get out of back, and they could hit long to us.”
Durango stays at home to play Palisade on Saturday at noon at Dirks Field at Fort Lewis College.