Durango’s 2024 season ended with a 2-1 loss and its 2025 season began with a 2-1 loss. Luckily for the Demons, they have plenty of games to bounce back after their 2-1 loss at home to Legend on Thursday.
The Demons showed their inexperienced offense after losing their top four scorers from last season. Durango struggled to keep possession, connect passes and create quality chances to challenge Legend. A lot of first touches were heavy and the Durango offense lacked the creativity and fluidity its coaches thought it’d have in the preseason.
A frantic and sloppy Durango defense had multiple poor turnovers right to Legend forwards who must’ve been licking their lips. One of Legend’s two goals came off a poor pass from a Durango defender deep in his own half.
“The biggest disappointment from today was just our lack of quality,” Durango head coach Sean Ackerman said. “We started to work, especially toward the end. But even still, our decision making and quality wasn't quite up to par.”
Legend begins its season 1-0 overall after Michael Christman and Chance McKinlay scored for the Titans. Durango dropped to 0-1 overall after its lone score was a Legend own goal. It was the first season-opening loss for the Durango program since 2010.
Ackerman acknowledged that it was a tough schedule leading up to Durango’s opener. The Demons only had a few days of practice after tryouts for Ackerman to coach up an inexperienced team and instill his philosophies.
In the first 10 minutes, neither team could hold possession very long and struggled to combine multiple passes in the midfield. Neither goalkeeper was challenged very much, other than some crosses and failed long balls into the 18-yard box that went right to them.
“We were frantic today,” Ackerman said. “We got to have that transition mentally. You have the transition from defense to offense. We need to do that mentally, where you can be aggressive as we're trying to win the ball. But, the second we do, we need to find that composure.”
With 17 minutes left, Legend almost took the lead. A Legend player played a ball through the defense and caught Harrison off guard. A Titans player then ran onto the ball on the right side of the 18-yard box and chipped it over senior goalkeeper Quinn Harrison’s gloves.
The ball looked like it was going into the left side of the goal until Durango junior Owen Martinez headed it away and kept the game tied, much to the crowd’s joy and relief.
Durango continued to struggle to create good chances in the first 25 minutes. Touches were either too heavy or too plentiful. On the bright side, Durango had moments with its high press. This caused the Titans to kick balls out of bounds under pressure.
Ackerman thought the Demons’ press was too delayed at times because when one Durango player would press hard, his teammates wouldn’t follow and this left Durango vulnerable.
Legend finally broke through late in the first half. Legend’s Michael Christman received a short pass on the right side of the 18-yard box. He finished with his right foot into the lower left corner for a 1-0 lead with 2:19 left in the half. Legend took that lead into half.
The Demons started the second half with a great counterattack in the first two minutes. Junior Jed Lawler was taken down just outside the 18-yard box, resulting in an unsuccessful free kick.
Harrison did a great job keeping the Demons in the game with a few stellar saves in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
A poor turnover in the middle of the field led to another goal. A Durango defender kicked the ball right to a Legend player, who turned and played the ball up to Chance McKinlay. The Titan forward showed composure with a nice touch in the box, before a classy finish in the lower right corner. Legend led 2-0 with 27 minutes left.
“We were having too many cheap turnovers that were leading to goals,” Ackerman said. “If we were able to keep possession, instead we were just looking to play in behind. I don't know why we were doing that when we’ve been working on passing, moving and all that. But, I'll chalk it up to it’s the first game under the lights at home; it’s a big game.”
After pressuring the Legend defense for 20 minutes, the Demons finally got two good breaks. A Legend player was sent off with a red card with less than 12 minutes to play, opening up the Durango attack.
Five minutes later, Lawler played a ball from outside the 18-yard box that looked to be going wide of the net, but deflected into the Legend goal by a Legend center back. Durango had life again down 2-1.
The Demons were aggressive after the own goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net for the equalizer.
“I was proud of the guys for hunting, but it just needs to come way sooner,” Ackerman said.
Durango plays at home against Rampart on Saturday at 10 a.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
