{"id":40859,"date":"2022-05-02T21:36:24","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T03:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-roar-in-regular-season-final-win-seventh-in-a-row\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:57:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:57:54","slug":"panthers-roar-in-regular-season-final-win-seventh-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-roar-in-regular-season-final-win-seventh-in-a-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers roar in regular-season final, win seventh in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Celebrating
Celebrating a second-half goal April 29 versus visiting Ignacio, Montezuma-Cortez captain Olivia Cosner strikes a pose as teammate Madison Sitton plays the photographer.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Denied a chance to play in the postseason, Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Madison Sitton on Friday helped her team get a shot at the long-awaited experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my age \u2026 I had to sit on the bench all season in softball. I didn\u2019t get to play. So I was incredibly lucky to be able to play soccer,\u201d said Sitton, a 19-year-old senior, after a 6-1 home win over Ignacio.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll get to go, but I have to just cheer \u2013 which is a little upsetting \u2013 but I\u2019m just so proud of my team and so excited that I got to play,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

A elementary student the last time the Panthers enjoyed an eight-win season, Sitton smirked when recalling current assistant coach Kylee Sitton Ebberts was around when the 2010 squad went 8-6-1 overall as a Class 4A program, but missed the playoffs after a season-ending loss to 4A\/5A SWL champs Durango.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my sister,\u201d said Madison Sitton, \u201cand her team didn\u2019t even get to go. It\u2019s pretty crazy because she\u2019s now coaching our team \u2026 and we get to go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite an honor, honestly, to be part of such a team,\u201d said senior Olivia Cosner. \u201cComing off of yesterday\u2019s win (7-1 at 2A Del Norte) we had a confidence boost, and I think you were able to see, like, the potential our team has.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToday the Rubik\u2019s Cube came together,\u201d said head coach Reese Smith.<\/p>\n

During their hot streak, the Panthers have outscored their opponents 22-4.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Anna Jensen battles Ignacio's Laci Brunson for the ball and a defensive stop -during action April 29, at M-CHS. The Lady Panthers won 6-1.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Capping Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s seventh consecutive conquest, Cosner completed a hat trick with a high-arcing 76th-minute goal over keeper Trinity Strohl.<\/p>\n

Ignacio sophomore Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga denied Aubrey Rutherford a shutout by drilling a 78th-minute indirect kick through the goalie\u2019s hands as all the Panthers standing on the goal line to defend against the shot.<\/p>\n

M-CHS (8-4 overall, 5-1 3A Southwestern) got the scoring started with freshman standout Jordi Mahler\u2019s 18th-minute finish of a Sophia Shepard setup. The Lady Panthers then went up 2-0 in the 28th minute, when Cosner appeared to redirect a deflected Mahler shot.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Allie Kibel steps in front of Ignacio's Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga to swipe possession during the teams\u2019 match April 29, at M-CHS.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Madison Sitton clashes with Ignacio's Kristianna Brann to keep the ball in play near the visitors\u2019 goal April 29.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Jordi Mahler wards off Ignacio's Jillian Middlebrook and others to control the ball during action April 29 at M-CHS.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Leading at halftime by two, M-CHS soon added a third when senior Allie Kibel scored in the 45th. She then assisted Mahler in the 50th as the home side made runs onto balls played far ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got back to basics \u2026 doing triangle passes,\u201d Kibel said. \u201cThat\u2019s really brought us girls closer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Played into scoring position by a Kibel pass, Cosner increased Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s advantage to 5-0 in the 74th minute, as she, Kibel, Sitton, Jordan Comisky and Baylee Littlefield all played their last regular-season match \u2013 dropping 2A Ignacio to 2-9 overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t remember the wins; you just remember the moments,\u201d said Smith. \u201cSo I said, \u2018Remember the moments, be with your friends!\u2019 Five, 10 years down the road, you don\u2019t remember what the score was, but you remember the fun, sunny day. There\u2019s only so many sunny days in the world, so use them wisely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cActually getting to play this year instead of not having a season again is really nice,\u201d Kibel said. \u201cOur senior class has shown a lot more dedication than some\u2026. I think we just come to practice having a mindset that our season\u2019s still not over; our conditioning needs to stay the same, the drills need to stay the same, and just us pushing through everything needs to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pursued closest by Alamosa for first atop the 3A SWL standings, but 1-1 against the Mean Moose with an even 2:2 head-to-head goal differential, the Panthers will have to wait until all regular-season play concludes to know their postseason fate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unreal \u2026 to have such a successful year,\u201d said Cosner. \u201cOur midfield really worked the ball well, we utilized the outside\u2014which was an improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alamosa, 7-5 overall and 3-1 in the league as of May 2, still had dates this week with Bayfield and Pagosa Springs, meaning the 2-3 Wolverines or 0-5 Lady Pirates could help M-CHS with an upset.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Baylee Littlefield receives a congratulatory hug from head coach Reese Smith after the Lady Panthers\u2019 6-1 home win April 29 over Ignacio. Standing by are, from left, seniors Olivia Cosner, Allie Kibel and Madison Sitton.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M-CHS beat Ignacio 6-1, must wait to see playoff fate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,1235,36,445,845,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-ignacio","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40859","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=40859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84783,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40859\/revisions\/84783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40859"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}