For the first time in 49 days, the Durango High School girls soccer team lost a game. Lutheran beat Durango 3-0 in the 4A state quarterfinals at Lutheran High School to end the Demons’ season.
No. 5 seed Durango could never figure out the No. 4 seed Lutheran defense. It possessed the ball in the midfield and in Lutheran’s half. But if the final boss or final level of this video game was creating quality chances in the attacking third, Durango couldn’t hit the right buttons at the right time on Tuesday night.
Lutheran showed more skill, finesse and speed than Durango had rarely seen after playing in a weaker 4A/5A Southwestern League in the regular season. The Demons struggled to create in one-on-one situations and were either a step too slow or weren’t strong enough going for 50/50 balls.
The Lions didn’t exactly pepper Durango junior goalkeeper Ryne Neiman with a ton of good looks, but when they had great chances, they finished.
“Lutheran is a team that has players that are just the full package,” Durango head coach Zac Keeler said. “They had strong players, high IQ, skilled players in their positions and could move around and gave us different looks on the field … ultimately, it was who's going to get the ball in the back of the net? We were having a difficult time doing that.”
Durango finished its season 14-4 overall. Lutheran’s win snapped a 14-game winning streak for Durango. It was the most wins and the deepest Durango had been in the state playoffs since 2022.
Lutheran improved to 13-3-1 overall and advanced to the state semifinals against No. 1 seed Evergreen. Abby Megill had two goals for the Lions and Brynlee Booher had the third.
Durango had possession for most of the first 10 minutes. Lutheran tried to play long balls and weren’t successful, while Durango combined in the midfield with short passes and tried to advance from there. When the Demons lost the ball, they used their pressure with their forwards and midfielders to get it back quickly.
Lutheran scored on its first real chance. Megill received the ball on the left side just outside the 18-yard box, beat her defender with a nice turn and then had a great finish into the lower right corner for a 1-0 lead with 26:46 left in the first half.
It was the first goal the Demons had given up in seven games and the first time they trailed in 11 games.
Durango almost had the response about a minute later. Senior defender Lilly Fitzpatrick was taken down on the left side, resulting in a free kick. She delivered a nice low ball into the box and it found its way to senior Bella Saren, right in front of the goal. She didn’t get a good touch on it and couldn’t get it past the Lutheran keeper for the equalizer.
Saren created another chance with her pressure only a few minutes later. She used her strong frame to get the ball from the Lutheran defender. She had a great shot from about 20 yards out that just went wide of the top right corner.
“Our first half was definitely our best performance of the game,” Keeler said. “We got a lot of good looks and great opportunities to put it into the net. They were keeping us a little bit wider than we would like to have been or just intercepting that last pass that we wanted to make to get into their 18 to find the net. Their center back had an outstanding game. It was almost as if she was in our head, knowing where each pass was going to and was able to intercept it.”
The Demons possessed the ball a lot inside the Lions’ half in the last 10 minutes of the first half but couldn’t break through. Lutheran led 1-0 at half.
Durango struggled with turnovers from its back line early in the second half and it cost the Demons. Lutheran stole the ball just inside Durango’s half and advanced it down the left side after a Demon defender missed on the tackle. Booher played a great through ball to Megill in transition, who settled it and had a composed finish for a 2-0 lead with 35 minutes left.
Only a minute later, the Lions ended all comeback hopes with their third goal. Lutheran regained possession after the kickoff, easily moved the ball through the middle of the field and had a ton of space to work with. Booher dribbled up the middle toward the 18-yard box, made a touch to her right and shot into the lower left corner.
Keeler said the Lions were playing a 3-2-3-2 formation which Durango hadn’t seen this season. It made it difficult for Durango’s center backs to identify who they were supposed to guard.
After Lutheran’s third goal, it was more of the same for Durango. It had some nice possession in the midfield but couldn’t put anything substantial on goal. Saren and Fitzpatrick had great free kicks but couldn’t get the zero under Durango off the scoreboard.
The Demons will lose seven seniors who had a lot of success as part of the girls soccer program. On the bright side, Durango will return three of its top five point scorers and its experienced goalkeeper in Neiman.
“We're very sad to see these seven seniors go,” Keeler said. “They were absolute workhorses; no matter what position we asked them to play in, they were our backbone of the team and will be greatly missed. But it's a very promising young group of players coming up from the junior class, sophomore class, all the way down to the freshman class. We'll definitely be coming back to the state playoffs.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
