So much for rust.
The Durango High School boys soccer team hadn’t played a competitive match in almost two weeks, but it didn’t show in a 5-0 win against Grand Junction on Friday at Riverview Sports Complex.
The Demons scored four goals in a span of 14 minutes in the second half, initiated by Nick Aggeler’s breakaway strike in the 63rd minute and capped by Zeb Soignier’s header in the 77th.
Nearly all of Durango’s goals resulted from controlled ball movement and player movement off the ball rather than individual attacks.
“That’s not an easy way to play; you have to trust each other,” DHS head coach Dalon Parker said. “Every time the ball leaves your foot, you have to trust that person knows what to do with it next.”
Tony Williams scored in the 65th minute on the end of one of several long through balls DHS connected on during the match.
Soignier also found the net in the 65th minute on a curling strike from outside the box.
“We had those big spells of possession; it’s just so much easier to play,” said Williams, son of Claudia and David Williams. “When you’re defending, it’s tiring; there’s nothing else to it. It’s much easier to be running with the ball than when you don’t.”
DHS (3-1, 1-0 Southwestern League) kept possession for most of the game, and the Demons outshot Grand Junction (3-4, 2-2 SWL) 16-3 and 9-1 in the second half.
“It’s totally demoralizing to the other team; it just makes them chase more,” said Soignier, son of Bryan and JoC Soignier. “The longer you keep, the more opportunities will be open.”
Demons’ goalie Patrick Leach didn’t have to save any of the Tigers’ attempts; all three were off-target, and his defense handled the rest.
DHS collected its second clean sheet of the season primarily because of the strength of its back four.
“It was impressive to see them stop the attack before it even began,” Parker said.
Three of the Demons’ four second-half goals came against 10 men after Grand Junction’s Chris Samso and head coach Stephen Latta were ejected with red cards. Grand Junction assistant coach Todd Bondurant said his team had a “mental focus breakdown” after the bookings and couldn’t recover.
DHS can’t savor the victory too long, as it plays another SWL game at 11 a.m. Saturday against Montrose at Dirks Field on the Fort Lewis College campus.
“It’s going to be a harder game than this, for sure. Montrose is our biggest rivals; I’m totally looking forward to it,” Williams said. “It’s awesome that we get to use the Fort field. I just hope we play like we did (Friday).”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
