A flurry of goals midway through the first half sent the Durango High School girls soccer team to victory in the Demons’ 5A/4A Southwestern League opener.
After an even opening 20 minutes, the Demons scored three times in a matter of a couple minutes and cruised the rest of the way for a 3-0 win against Grand Junction Central on Saturday afternoon at the Smith Sports Complex on the Fort Lewis College campus in Durango.
“What we’ve been struggling with in our previous games, even the ones we’ve won, is how dynamic we’ve been offensively, and they put that together today,” DHS head coach Robert Logan said. “They were moving off the ball, doing their give-and-goes; they were doing everything offensively that we wanted them to do. Our defense has been solid all year long, but we were losing 1-0 and 2-1. We’ve known we’ve had solid defensive play, so this was a fun game to see them put all the pieces together.”
The opening 15 minutes of the first half were pretty balanced between the two sides, but the Demons (3-4, 1-0 SWL) began to take control at the midway point of the half. Durango put a couple good shots on goal and gave the sense that it was only a matter of time before the they would break through, and that’s exactly what happened.
Durango’s first goal came about 25 minutes into the match when Taylor Klone curled a shot from the left side into the back of the net. Less than a minute later, the Demons drew a foul near the top of the box and were awarded a free kick, which Autumn Stevens drilled into the goal to make it 2-0.
Shortly after Stevens’ goal, Caroline Knight put a shot past the Warriors’ keeper for the third goal.
“I think a simple mistake happened and they got a nice goal,” Warriors head coach Ethan Johnson said. “Then a foul, I’m not really sure what happened there, but they had a nice free kick and then our heads were down. It was a mental breakdown letting our heads down.
“We came out in the second half, got our heads back up and decided to actually play some soccer. It’s a mental thing, and they have to take it upon themselves to not get down on themselves.”
The Warriors (3-5, 1-3 SWL) put together some solid possessions in the second half but were never able to break through with only a handful of shots on goal, which left DHS keeper Suanna Gustavson spending most of the day alone and away from the action.
“It’s nice, but it can also get boring – I like to have a little action,” Gustavson said. “I just like to see my teammates playing so well and play for each other. For them to be able to move the ball around like that, it’s fun to watch and be a part of.”
The Demons controlled the bulk of the possession in the win and fired 15 shots on goal.
DHS senior forward Emma Aggeler said a big difference for the Demons’ attack was their ability to make clean, shorter passes to help maintain possession and find gaps in the defense for scoring opportunities.
“We’ve been focusing a lot on two-touch ball and not kicking balls way up to run to,” she said. “It’s a lot more possession we’ve been working on and we did that a lot better this game than in the past. I think that helped with our possession.”
The strong performance on offense and defense, coupled with the shutout win in the league opener, will be a big boost in confidence for the Demons as they move through the league schedule, which will pit them against Grand Junction High School (7-1, 1-1 SWL) for their next game Friday at DHS.
“You couldn’t ask for a better situation as far as how they were playing,” Logan said. “Their confidence level was pretty low after losing to Cherry Creek (5-0 on March 24), so to come back and see how we can play after how hard we’ve been working and practicing the last two weeks was perfect.”
The Bayfield High School girls soccer team held off a late push from Buena Vista and came away with a 4-3 victory Saturday in Buena Vista.
Tied 1-1 at halftime, the Wolverines (3-3) came out in the second half with three goals to take a 4-1 lead. But tired legs began to show, a result of Friday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Salida, down the stretch, which allowed the Demons (1-3) to attempt a comeback.
“The girls started to get a little tired and sloppy, and I think we got a little complacent being three goals up,” BHS head coach Jen Moore said. “(Buena Vista) had a couple of nice shots. One went through our keeper’s hands, a total error, and the other was pretty much unstoppable from out on the corner.
“You could definitely see how having a game the night before in terrible weather took a toll on us, but we made it through the weekend with a win and a loss against two good teams. Overall, I’m pretty happy and hope it helps us in the playoffs.”
Savannah Kaufmann and Halle Loveday netted two goals each for the Wolverines. Tayler Ludwig had one assist to Kaufmann and one to Loveday. Both of Ludwig’s assists came on well-placed free kicks from the sophomore defender. Freshman Brooke Merchant provided one assist in the win.
Bayfield (1-0 3A Intermountain League) will jump back into league play with a game against Pagosa Springs (2-4, 1-1 IML) on Tuesday at BHS.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
