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Penalty kick goal secures a 1-1 draw for Durango girls soccer against Fruita Monument

DHS, Fruita Monument play to a draw

Some of the legs on the dance floor at Durango High School’s prom night undoubtedly already were a bit fatigued.

The Durango High School girls soccer team didn’t have its best performance but kept Fruita Monument off the scoreboard after allowing one early goal. The Demons capitalized on a controversial penalty-kick opportunity to tie the game in the first half, and the two sides played a scoreless second half to force overtime.

Neither team could find a golden goal after two 10-minute overtime sessions, resulting in a 1-1 draw, the first draw of the season for both teams, who have matching 5-6-1 overall and 4-2-1 Southwestern League records.

DHS benefitted from not having played earlier in the week leading into Saturday’s game, while fatigue hit the Wildcats hard in their second game in as many days.

“The girls were so ready for prom, if their legs were tired it didn’t matter to them,” DHS head coach Dalon Parker said.

Fruita Monument got on the board with a goal by Shaylee Holt, assisted by Baseley McClaskey.

But DHS scored on a Lauren Milliet penalty kick after a tackle inside the 18-yard box was deemed worthy of a penalty kick in the eyes of one of the three officials. The penalty kick game much to the dismay of the Fruita Monument bench, with head coach Alex Garza earning a yellow card for arguing the call. Both head coached would receive yellow cards for arguing questionable calls in the match.

But Garza wouldn’t blame the outcome on the call and credited Milliet for stepping up and making her shot.

“We’re both classy programs, and it is what it is,” Garza said. “(Milliet) stepped up and hit it, and then both teams fought hard the rest of the game. That’s what good players do.”

The Wildcats had the better of the scoring chances, especially late in the second half and into overtime.

DHS senior goalkeeper Jessi Sigilito kept the shots out of the back of her net, though, coming up into the box to take away scoring chances and making several key saves.

“I tried to support my back line and tried to be as loud as I could to support them and let them know everything will be OK,” said Sigilito, daughter of Jon and Laurie Sigilito.

Sigilito had to deal with a lot of contact late in the game and had her right wrist slightly injured in one such collision.

“They wanted to keep crashing in, but I had a defender right there who noticed it and told me she would made sure they didn’t do it again,” Sigilito said. “She was there to have my back, too.”

Parker said the team badly wanted the three points for a win Saturday instead of the one point for a draw. But he was happy for that after a 5-1 loss at Fruita Monument earlier this season.

Both teams still are alive for a spot in the playoffs. DHS has three games left, beginning with a senior-day game at 5:30 p.m. Friday against Grand Junction Central (4-7, 1-5 SWL). DHS then will travel to Montezuma-Cortez before a trip to Grand Junction (7-3, 5-2) to close out the season.

Montrose (7-2, 4-1 SWL) still leads the league standings, with Grand Junction second and Fruita Monument and Durango tied for third.

“There’s a lot of pressure on these next games, but I think we’re going to do well,” Sigilito said. “We’re working on more tactical things and got a feel for it. We know what we can work on, and I think this game was a good start for us going into these last games.”

jlivingston@durangoherald.com



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