Durango traveled to the Air Academy Tournament well aware of its struggles the same weekend a year ago. The Demons made up for it in a big way this time around.
After going 0-3 at the tournament last season, the Durango High School girls soccer team responded with a 2-1 showing to start the 2016 season. The Demons took down host and 10th-ranked Air Academy 1-0 in the first round Friday for a massive upset and were set to play two games Saturday.
The first didn’t go Durango’s way, as the Demons lost 1-0 to Douglas County in the tournament semifinals. DHS had to turn around and play another match soon after the narrow defeat. The third-place game came against none other than Southwestern League rival Montrose.
Durango went down quickly in the first half but battled back to tie the match and set it into overtime. Neither team could find a goal in extra time, but the Demons were one better in the penalty kick shootout, beating Montrose 5-4 in penalties to secure a 2-1 win.
“I’m proud of the whole weekend,” DHS head coach Dalon Parker said. “To come back to a tournament they know we went 0-3 and didn’t play well in at all a year ago and then come here and win third place, it was big.”
Durango’s semifinal game was evenly played against Douglas County, but the Demons committed a foul 25 yards out from its own goal, and a Douglas County player fired a rocket into the Demons’ goal on the free kick to send the Huskies to a 1-0 win.
DHS (2-1) bounced back to face Montrose but went down 1-0 only 15 minutes into the match. Parker said a bad clearance attempt in front of the Demons’ goal resulted in the Indians’ score.
But Durango responded in the second half, as Kayla Rubenstein scored off an assist from Chloe Taylor.
Parker said Durango dominated the two golden goal overtime periods but couldn’t finish off Montrose, so it went to penalties.
Scoring for Durango was Emma Aggeler, Lane Arnwine, Taylor Klone, Lauran Morrissey and Chloe Taylor.
Durango goalkeeper Leah Stevens made the final save on Montrose’s fifth penalty kick to secure Durango’s win.
“The girls showed perseverance and heart when they went down a goal,” Parker said. “They didn’t but their heads down. We made some subs and changes at halftime, but the big thing was the girls went out and played harder, which was awesome.”
DHS will have a week off before beginning Southwestern League play with two road games April 1-2 in Grand Junction.
Cherokee Trail of Aurora won the Air Academy Tournament with a 6-2 victory against Douglas County. Cherokee Trail also beat Montrose 5-1 in the semifinals.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
