{"id":34596,"date":"2023-04-17T13:06:06","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T19:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-panthers-begin-week-on-hot-streak\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:19:27","slug":"montezuma-cortez-panthers-begin-week-on-hot-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/montezuma-cortez-panthers-begin-week-on-hot-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"Montezuma-Cortez Panthers begin week on hot streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Keeley Clark (26) wards off Ignacio's Anaya Lucero while turning to pursue an unclaimed ball Saturday, April 15, at M-CHS. The Lady Panthers defeated the Lady Bobcats 6-1. Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Considering Bayfield\u2019s struggles three days before, on the road against a potent Class 2A team looking to return to the postseason \u2013 now less than a month away \u2013 if there was ever a time for Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s girls to vie for the 3A Southwestern League lead, it would have been Monday, April 17.<\/p>\n

With the match versus the Lady Wolverines (4-2, 3-0 SWL) moved back a calendar day, the accelerating Lady Panthers (4-3, 2-0) were to step onto their home pitch gunning for a fifth consecutive victory as well as an upper hand in the SWL standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s going to be a test,\u201d M-CHS head coach Reese Smith had said on the 15th, after his side\u2019s 6-1 conquest of Ignacio \u2013 in which the visitors trailed 5-0 at halftime on a cloudless and sunny, but breezy and chilly afternoon. \u201cThe jigsaw puzzle of everything\u2019s coming together, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Jordi Mahler (30) leads a rush upfield during action Saturday, April 15, against Ignacio at M-CHS. Mahler scored three goals in the Lady Panthers' 6-1 victory. Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Jordi Mahler (30) blocks a clearing pass attempted by Ignacio's Autumn Sage (23) during action Saturday, April 15, at M-CHS. Mahler scored three goals (at far left, Sophia Shepard, No. 3, scored two) in the Lady Panthers' 6-1 victory. Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Emily Howell (27) prepares to maneuver and evade Ignacio's Trinity Crane (3) during action Saturday, April 15, at M-CHS. The Lady Panthers defeated the Lady Bobcats 6-1. Joel Priest\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cOur first three games \u2026 we were not communicating, I felt,\u201d he continued, alluding to early losses \u2013 all at home, no less, but all at least competitive in nature \u2013 to 2A powers Ridgway and Telluride, as well as Delta, last season\u2019s 3A Western Slope runner-up and the 32-team State Tournament\u2019s No. 14 seed. \u201cNow I\u2019m like a bull in a china shop, I\u2019m so excited!\u201d<\/p>\n

Results against Bayfield were unavailable by press time for Wednesday\u2019s Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Against IHS (0-6, 0-2 2A Intermountain-South), senior Sophia Shepard scored the first goal in only the sixth minute, then registered the second in the 10th after intercepting a pass near the edge of the Lady Bobcats\u2019 18-yard box. She then assisted on sophomore Jordi Mahler\u2019s 17th-minute goal, putting Montezuma-Cortez up by an intimidating 3-0 margin.<\/p>\n

Not long after, Ignacio\u2019s Jillian Middlebrook was called for a blindside shove on a M-CHS attacker threatening to make a play near the guests\u2019 net, and a penalty kick was awarded. Stepping to the spot, Mahler made no mistake going 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Trinity Strohl and increased the Lady Panthers\u2019 lead to 4-0 in the 22nd minute.<\/p>\n

Assisted by junior Anna Jenson, Mahler completed her hat trick in the 27th and the Panthers \u2013 who\u2019d notched a 2-0 win at Alamosa the previous afternoon \u2013 managed to keep the \u2019Cats off the scoreboard through the rest of the regulation 40 minutes and into a fourth of stoppage time.<\/p>\n

After being out-shot by an unofficial 16-1 margin (12-1 shots-on-goal) before intermission, Ignacio at last broke through when senior Harmony Reynolds gained possession near the scorer\u2019s table at midfield, sped along the sideline all the way into striking range, and then put IHS\u2019 first second-half attempt past goalie Aubrey Rutherford in the 43rd minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell Aubrey, \u2018Don\u2019t worry about goals.\u2019 There\u2019s 10 other people on the field, and the ball got past 10 other people \u2013 she understands that,\u201d said Smith. \u201cShe\u2019s aggressive \u2013 that\u2019s what you need \u2013 and she\u2019s just a sophomore; a couple more years, and I think she could be all-atate.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just two minutes later, the Bobcats\u2019 thrill was gone.<\/p>\n

M-CHS junior Janae Boyd led a rush deep into the offensive end, and drew Strohl far off her line. Strohl managed to deflect the ball before it really became a shot, but the ball skittered away to Strohl\u2019s left, and senior Carlie McClellan arrived to boot it into an unguarded net for the locals\u2019 sixth goal.<\/p>\n

Unofficially, Strohl saved 10 of M-CHS\u2019 16 shots on goal; Rutherford stopped three of Ignacio\u2019s four. The Lady Panthers also gained seven corner kicks to the Lady Bobcats\u2019 three in the non-league clash.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead at the schedule, Montezuma-Cortez will travel Thursday, April 20, to IHS for a 4 p.m. start completing the varsities\u2019 2023 trilogy, and then head to Ridgway on the 25th for a 4 p.m. rematch with Trevor Peterson\u2019s Lady Demons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ignacio is Panther\u2019s fourth in a row<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,846,36,29,845],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-ignacio-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter","tag-soccer"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34596","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=34596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82671,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34596\/revisions\/82671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34596"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}