Saturday’s loss was hopefully a learning experience for the talented and young Durango High School girls soccer team.
The sluggish Demons had trouble from the start, went down early and never recovered in a 1-0 home loss to Sand Creek at Riverview Park. Scorpions freshman Sydney Chaffee scored the game’s lone goal late in the first half. Though Durango came close a few times, it was never able to get the second half equalizer.
“It just seemed like we were a step behind on everything,” Durango head coach Dalon Parker said. “Sometimes you need these games, though. Maybe we needed a team to travel six or seven hours and kick our butts to realize that the work ethic and desperation has to be there in every minute of every game.”
It was a very slow start, as the sloppy field conditions at Riverview Park made things tough on both teams.
Most of the first half was spent in the midfield, but Sand Creek (4-2) and its seven freshmen found a way to apply sustained pressure as halftime approached. After a series of good chances, Chaffee took a cross from Dami Murdock on one bounce and hit a solid strike off the post and past Demons goalkeeper Leah Stephens to give Sand Creek the lead.
“It was a great ball, and all the pieces came together for me to put it in,” Chaffee said. “I just kind of snuck in there behind the defense and she didn’t see me. The ball bounced up about waist high, and I was able to hit it solid.”
Parker recognized the lackluster start and pleaded with his team to get it together in the second half. The Demons responded and spent the remainder of the game peppering Sand Creek goalkeeper Sydney Nelson.
Durango (5-2, 3-0 5A/4A Southwestern League) pushed its lines up and applied furious offensive pressure in the final 15 minutes. The best chance came off the foot of Demons sophomore Autumn Stevens, who booted a 30-yard free kick off the crossbar. Moments later, Durango sophomore Lane Arnwine fired a high shot that Nelson got just enough of to deflect over the goal.
“I knew we were running out of time, so I really put a lot of effort and concentration into that free kick,” said Stevens, daughter of Eric and Lynn Stevens. “I hit it as good as I could have and did everything coach told me to, but it just missed, and sometimes games go like that. I think we got comfortable with our record and got too proud of what we’ve done already.”
Durango will need to get over the loss in a hurry because it has a big week of soccer coming up with league rivals Montrose and Fruita Monument. The Demons play at 5 p.m. Friday at Montrose and 11 a.m. Saturday at Fruita.
“We can definitely use this silly loss as motivation for next weekend,” said senior Lauran Morrissey, daughter of Deena and Patrick Morrissey. “We beat (Montrose) last time in penalty kicks, so they’re going to want revenge, and we have to be ready for that.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
