{"id":41642,"date":"2022-03-17T16:21:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T22:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/m-chs-downs-bayfield-in-season-opener\/"},"modified":"2022-03-17T22:21:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T22:21:00","slug":"m-chs-downs-bayfield-in-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/m-chs-downs-bayfield-in-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"M-CHS downs Bayfield in season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield sophomore Anna Vasgird clashes with Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Halee Kibel (23) for possession during the teams season-opener Wednesday at M-CHS. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

CORTEZ \u2013 Less than 60 seconds after seeing freshman Sydney Rey\u2019s breakaway chance denied by Montezuma-Cortez goalkeeper Aubrey Rutherford, Bayfield senior Mattie Moore managed to regain possession and deny the fellow 3A Southwestern Leaguers a season-opening shutout by beating the goalie low and to her left in the 79th minute.<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s own breakaway \u2013 an unchecked 50-yard sprint, product of a perfect Abria Thayer through-ball in the 73rd-minute \u2013 was blocked by Rutherford, M-CHS freshman backup behind senior Olivia Cosner. And when she did score, it was too little, too late on Wednesday as the hosting Lady Panthers\u2019 three first-half goals proved too many to overcome.<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield freshman Kambrie Byrd attempts to win a ball while leaping over a Montezuma-Cortez player during the teams' season opener Wednesday at M-CHS. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019ve got some stuff to work on,\u201d said Montezuma-Cortez head coach Reese Smith. \u201cGave up an easy goal at the end, but it happens. \u2026 Our conditioning needs to be worked on, but overall I\u2019m very proud of the girls. I think it\u2019s on to greater things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFitness for sure; that\u2019s our number one thing we\u2019re going to work on, so we can keep our best players on the field and stuff like that,\u201d said freshman forward Jordlan \u2018Jordi\u2019 Mahler, who, cashed in a fourth-minute rebound of a teammate\u2019s try initially saved by BHS senior Annie Fusco.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s
Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Anna Jensen dribbles past Bayfield\u2019s Sydney Rey during the teams\u2019 season opener Wednesday at M-CHS. Jensen would score one goal in the Panthers\u2019 3-1 win. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Mahler struck again in the 16th, with a shot set up by one of M-CHS\u2019 seven first-half corner kicks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I was surprised!\u201d she said, of the Panthers\u2019 fast start. \u201cBut it was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJordi\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get her open more, give her more space; I think she could have got more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield senior Mattie Moore wards off Montezuma-Cortez\u2019s Anna Jensen during the teams' season opener Wednesday at M-CHS. Moore and Jensen scored once. M-CHS prevailed 3-1. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Sophomore Anna Jensen then put Montezuma-Cortez (1-0, 1-0 3A SWL) up 3-0 in the 29th by lifting a shot to the far side, over known volleyball standout Fusco\u2019s back shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first team in a while, you know, and our first win in three years,\u201d Mahler said, alluding to the fact that because of pandemic and participation issues, M-CHS had not suited up a girls squad in spring 2020 or 2021. The Lady Panthers program had thus not logged a victory since defeating Bayfield 2-1 on April 30, 2019. \u201cIt feels great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bayfield
Bayfield girls soccer head coach Chris Zoltowski rapidly reviews a scheme with Lady Wolverine seniors Emaliah Sawyer, right, and Mattie Moore prior to BHS' season-opening match Wednesday at Montezuma-Cortez. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m just happy that they\u2019re out. It\u2019s been three years since they\u2019ve played,\u201d said Smith, who also saluted senior Allie Kibel\u2019s work on defense. \u201cI\u2019m happy with the numbers, and even if we\u2019d lost I\u2019m just glad that they came out and had fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez's
Montezuma-Cortez's Jordlan Mahler directs the ball past Bayfield goalkeeper Annie Fusco and into the net for the first goal in the teams' season-opener Wednesday at M-CHS. Mahler scored twice in the Panthers' 3-1 win. (Joel Priest\/Special to the Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Up next, M-CHS will host 2A Ridgway at 10 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

Bayfield\u2019s March 11 season opener versus 2A Center was canceled after CHS decided to not field a team. Center ultimately chose to merge with 2A Del Norte. Bayfield\u2019s game against Ignacio was also rescheduled from March 12 to April 13, so the Wolverines (0-1, 0-1 3A SWL) won\u2019t see action again until they host Manitou Springs on April 1.<\/p>\n

Chris Zoltowski\u2019s Lady Wolverines will then venture to Colorado Springs for a 3 p.m. test the next afternoon at James Irwin. The charter school is named after U.S. Air Force Col. James Benson Irwin (1930-1991), who walked on the moon as part of NASA\u2019s Apollo 15 mission, and would have turned 92 on March 17.<\/p>\n

Lady \u2018Cats hungry for more:<\/div>\n

After their season-opening 8-2 rout of Del Norte on Tuesday, Ignacio (1-0, 1-0 2A Southwestern) will return to action Friday against Ridgway. Kickoff at IHS Field is set for 4 p.m. The match had been slated to be held at Ridgway, but with the Lady Demons\u2019 pitch still buried by snow, the game was moved south.<\/p>\n

The teams\u2019 second go-round will now be on April 23 at RHS.<\/p>\n

After hosting Ridgway, Alisha Gullion\u2019s crew will hit the road early Saturday to play 2A Telluride.<\/p>\n

Against Del Norte (0-2, 0-1 2A SWL), sophomore Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga and junior Laci Brunson, making her debut in the sport, each recorded hat tricks. Mendoza-Lechuga scored goals in the 7th, 48th, 56th minutes while Brunson scored in the 16th, 55th and 59th. Senior Alexis Pontine \u2013 who\u2019d netted a hatter against the Lady Tigers late last season \u2013 scored in the 15th and 72nd.<\/p>\n

Replacing the graduated Emily Cundiff, junior keeper Harmony Reynolds \u2013 also making her debut \u2013 earned the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t ready to \u2026 take their pressure off or anything; they were ready to go,\u201d Gullion said. \u201cNot even at halftime did they get out of the \u2018game\u2019 mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

two in Lady Panthers\u2019 3-1 win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[845],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-soccer"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41642","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=41642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41642"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}