The Durango High School turf and the Demons girls soccer’s speed were the main weapons on Friday night in a 2-0 win over Montrose.
Opposing teams struggle to play through balls on the slippery Durango turf, with most of them rolling out of bounds or right into senior goalkeeper Ryne Neiman’s hands. Durango knows its home turf very well and used its speed on offense and the speed of the turf to get behind the Montrose defense for two first-half goals.
The Demons had their moments, especially early on, when the passes weren’t connecting because of Montrose’s pressure. But they stuck with it, and the defense was solid enough that Neiman was only challenged a couple of times. Durango rested its starters late in the game as the Demons won their eighth consecutive game.
“Keeping the ball at our feet, that's where we're the most comfortable at in the games,” Durango head coach Zac Keeler said. “It's just playing with each other and making sure that the other team is chasing it. We can keep control in the tempo, and we got some good movement out there, found some through balls and got some goals.”
Durango improved to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League. The Demons haven’t allowed a goal since their game on March 27 against Montrose. Junior Ellis Campbell led the Demons with a goal and an assist. Junior Lila Scherer-Sickler added a goal.
Neither team could get much offense going early, as they settled for outside shots, which made for easy saves for the keepers. Neither team could connect on passes in the attacking third in the first 20 minutes.
The Demons weren’t combining like they had in past games. Passes were a little rushed and were inaccurate. Durango did do a good job of using Neiman’s feet to keep possession.
“Hats off to Montrose really putting the pressure on us in the beginning part of the game. It slowed us down a bit. Once we started to move the ball around, we got the ball past a few of their players … we found more opportunities.”
Durango’s best chance of the first 30 minutes was a beautiful through ball from the middle of the field to Scherer-Sickler on the right side. Senior Riley Smith led Scherer-Sickler perfectly and Scherer-Sickler took a great first touch, but she poked it right to the keeper with 13 minutes left.
Through balls started connecting for the Demons, and a great one by sophomore Lia Schowalter resulted in a one-on-one breakaway for Campbell and the goalie. She was then taken down from behind by a Montrose defender, resulting in a penalty kick. Campbell had a classy finish into the lower left corner for a 1-0 lead.
“We've been playing on this field all the time, and we're really used to it at this point,” Schowalter said. “We have some really fast players on the field who can get those through balls. It's a combination of practice and the players who put this together.”
One goal didn’t make Durango take its foot off the gas. The Demons continued to stifle the Montrose attack, making things easy for Neiman by quickly winning back the ball. Another through ball was successful for the Demons as Campbell led Scherer-Sickler perfectly into the open middle field behind the Montrose defense. Scherer-Sickler finished fantastically into the lower left corner for a 2-0 lead with 1:28 left in the first half.
The Demons continued to play strong defense to start the second half, and Neiman used her strong punt as a way to start the offense, blasting the ball over the top of the defense for Demons to run on to.
Montrose had a few promising runs in the second half, but the Demon defenders did a great job recovering from their mistakes and covering for others.
“With the players coming in, we all have just some really good dynamic now, and that was one of our team goals,” junior Jensen Quenzler said. “It's just starting to show in the last couple of games. We're really proving how good a team we are and how close we are.”
The Demons had their best chance at their third goal with 14 minutes left. Scherer-Sickler played a perfect through ball to Campbell, but Campbell was stopped by the Montrose keeper. Durango had two rebound shots off a save and clear, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Durango plays at Riverview Elementary School against Grand Junction on Saturday at noon.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
