{"id":28305,"date":"2024-04-07T02:43:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T02:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lady-panthers-score-first-victory\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:26:19","slug":"lady-panthers-score-first-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lady-panthers-score-first-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady Panthers score first victory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Janae Boyd (15) squares a pass to the outside during the Lady Panthers' 9-0 home win Friday afternoon over Ignacio. Boyd scored two goals. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Showing fine sportsmanship Friday afternoon through a willingness to play visiting roster-ravaged Ignacio 10-v-10, Montezuma-Cortez nevertheless knew charity couldn\u2019t be extended to IHS\u2019 No. 10.<\/p>\n

Not after what she\u2019d accomplished less than 24 hours earlier.<\/p>\n

Writing her name into Lady Bobcat Soccer\u2019s record book, senior Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga \u2013 already a capable scoring threat, as evidenced by her 11 goals as a sophomore in 2022 \u2013 netted not just one, two or even three goals at Del Norte; she tallied all eight in a five-goal road win, Ignacio\u2019s first in the 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n

\"With
With neither player wanting her hand to alter play, Montezuma-Cortez's Halee Kibel (33) clashes with Ignacio's Leandra Litz for control of a high-bouncing ball during M-CHS' 9-0 home win Friday afternoon, April 5. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Emily Howell (27) prepares to battle Ignacio's Kristianna Brann (8) for possession Friday afternoon, April 5, at M-CHS. The Lady Panthers recorded their first win in the 2024 season, defeating IHS 9-0 with Howell netting one goal. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ignacio's
Ignacio's Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga (10) seeks speed to separate from Montezuma-Cortez's Anna Jensen (1) during non-league action Friday afternoon, April 5, at M-CHS. IHS lost 9-0, less than a day after winning 8-3 at Del Norte\u2013with Mendoza-Lechuga netting all eight of the Lady Bobcats' goals. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Grace Darrin (25) fights through Ignacio's Kristianna Brann and Autumn Schulz (18) while leading an attack into the offensive end Friday afternoon, April 5. The Lady Panthers recorded their first win in the 2024 season, defeating IHS 9-0 with Darrin scoring one goal. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Nova Moore (5) tries escaping Ignacio's Lainee Bradley (11) after denying Bradley a scoring opportunity Friday afternoon, April 5, at M-CHS. The Lady Panthers recorded their first win in the 2024 season, defeating IHS 9-0. (Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cShe had two penalty kicks, three assisted \u2013 by Maliyah (Martinez), Marlene Martinez-Perez and Lainee (Bradley) \u2013 goals and three unassisted,\u201d IHS head coach Tori Burch said. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t easy; Del Norte put up a good fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outscored by just a 7-0 count during its own 0-3 start to the season, M-CHS had Mendoza-Lechuga watched well right from the opening kickoff as both teams began battling often-fierce winds as well as each other.<\/p>\n

Montezuma-Cortez dominated against a tired Ignacio squad and cruised to a 9-0 victory. The Lady Panthers improved to 1-3 with the win while Ignacio fell to 1-4 with the loss.<\/p>\n

Lady Panther senior Anna Jensen nearly broke the ice three minutes in, but saw her breakaway chance against IHS goalkeeper Bella Lorenzini blow away from the framework.<\/p>\n

Late in the fourth minute, M-CHS junior defender Halee Kibel had a Lorenzini punt bounce over her head and find Mendoza-Lechuga running at full speed. Almost able to taste her ninth goal, Mendoza-Lechuga ripped a quality shot on net, but Lady Panther junior Aubrey Rutherford made an outstanding diving save on what ended up being the visitors\u2019 best opportunity.<\/p>\n

Still trying to beat the breezes \u2013 fortunately not in the 50-100 mph range as predicted to blast Colorado\u2019s northern and central regions over the weekend \u2013 Montezuma-Cortez senior Janae Boyd sent a lower-elevated try Lorenzini\u2019s way in the 11th minute but it was rerouted.<\/p>\n

Finally, in the 21st minute, she broke in alone on Lorenzini and after getting as close as possible to IHS\u2019 keeper, zipped a low shot into the net for the all-important 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Played into striking range by Jensen in the 24th, Boyd was fouled inside Ignacio\u2019s 18-yard box \u2013 resulting in a penalty kick being awarded and converted by Jensen into a 2-0 advantage.<\/p>\n

Junior Emily Howell then made it a three-goal match in the 29th with a shot too hot for Lorenzini to clutch, and Jensen scored in the 36th from Lorenzini\u2019s right \u2013 giving the Lady Panthers a 4-0 lead which endured into halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally keeping the ball settled and \u2026 controlling the middle of the field was our ultimate goal,\u201d said Montezuma-Cortez head coach Melody Harris. \u201cWe knew that we wanted to play what we\u2019ve been practicing, and it ended up working out well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burch said the team did enough last game against Del Norte and in the first half against MC-HS, but the girls ran out of gas in the second. The Ignacio players had played 160 minutes of soccer in two days with no subs.<\/p>\n

Jensen, even more of an important weapon now with junior standout Jordi Mahler benched for the season by an injured left ACL, restarted the scoring after intermission with a 42nd-minute conversion of a Boyd assist. Three minutes later, Boyd increased the margin to six goals by knocking in a Jensen shot deflected by Lorenzini.<\/p>\n

Junior Luna Moore joined the proverbial party with a breakaway goal in the 51st and senior Grace Darrin profited in the 57th from a Jensen assist. Jensen, fittingly, netted M-CHS\u2019 ninth goal in the 71st minute, low and to Lorenzini\u2019s back post.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great learning experience for our more \u2018green\u2019 players,\u201d Harris said, \u201cI hope it helps the girls really develop even more passion for the game. I think they really had fun today \u2026 and we\u2019re just going to put our best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lady Panthers will next see action Friday, April 12, against Alamosa, then continue SWL work the next day at Pagosa Springs. Ignacio meanwhile, will host PSHS on the 16th and M-CHS on the 18th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ignacio fell 9-0 at M-CHS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1976,642,846,36,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-high-school-soccer","tag-high-school-sports","tag-ignacio-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80372,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28305\/revisions\/80372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28305"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}