Durango High School’s girls soccer team closed out the regular season on a high note, as the Demons rolled to a 3-1 victory against rival Montrose on DHS’ senior day Friday at DHS Stadium.
All three of the Demons’ goals came in the second half, erasing a first half in which the team had several good chances but came up empty.
“We were playing a little bit frantic and our touch was a little bit off,” DHS senior Emma Aggeler said of the first half. “But, after halftime, we got all our stuff back in order and talked through everything we needed to work on.”
The Demons dominated possession and had some good looks at goal in the opening 20 minutes of the match. But at about the midway point of the first half, Montrose (5-9-1, 2-5-0 5A/4A Southwestern League) began putting clean passes together and threatened to score on a couple of occasions.
After a pair of Montrose corner kicks came up empty, DHS (6-7-1, 4-3-1 SWL) found its attack again and was awarded a free kick with about eight minutes remaining in the half. Senior Autumn Stevens took the free kick from the center of the field, 40 yards out, and put it off the cross bar.
DHS had a couple more good chances at goal following Stevens’ blast, but Montrose’s keeper made a pair of diving saves and the match went to halftime 0-0.
“They had to possess more and pay more attention in the 18-yard box,” DHS head coach Robert Logan said of the first half. “They were taking shots they didn’t need to take when they had support. They came back out and the number of opportunities in the second half could have led to more than three goals. They started to settle themselves down.”
The Demons put pressure on Montrose early in the second half and saw a shot from senior Taylor Klone clank off the far post after a shot from the left side.
Durango broke through with its first goal with about 27 minutes remaining in the match when Caroline Knight found Aggeler in front of the goal to put the Demons up 1-0.
About five minutes after Aggeler’s goal, the Demons were awarded a penalty kick, which Aggeler fired past the Montrose keeper to make it 2-0.
“It meant a lot,” Aggeler said of her goals and the win. “I wanted to play for my team and the other seniors and have a lasting impression with it being the last game on the home field. It’s super sad, but the fact that we were able to beat Montrose like this and I was able to help means a lot.”
With about eight minutes remaining, sophomore Jael Larson put the exclamation point on the match with a goal that made it 3-0 Durango.
Montrose’s Jasmine Marquez scored in the closing minute of the match when she put a free kick, from about the same spot as Stevens’, over the reach of DHS keeper Suanna Gustavson and into the back of the net.
After the game, DHS honored its nine seniors and got an appearance from former head coach Dalon Parker, who left prior to the season for the head coaching position of the men’s soccer program at Multnomah University in Oregon.
“I knew when I made the decision to leave I had to come back for senior day,” Parker said. “The boys were hard to tell that I was leaving, but telling the girls was really hard. I didn’t know if I could tell them, so I felt like I had to come back and see them. I just wanted to see how they were doing, and it’s nice to see them play without being the coach and analyze them. It was nice to see them and remember from when they were freshmen to now and how they’ve all grown up.”
The Demons now turn their attention to the Class 4A state playoffs. In the latest RPI standings released Friday afternoon, DHS was slotted No. 23 in 4A. There are 32 spots in the playoff bracket, which will be released Sunday.
Aggeler said that heading into the playoffs, the Demons’ confidence and chemistry on the field is the highest it has been all season.
“I think we’ve gotten to the point where we’re all really connected,” she said. “We’ve all bonded and the fact that we’re all able to play for each other and we’re connected on and off the field, I think that counts a lot toward to how well we’re playing.”
kschneider@durangoherald.com
