RIO GRANDE COUNTY – Almost exactly 20 minutes before kickoff Friday, Del Norte Athletic Director Richie Madrid received an alarm on his smartphone as he observed his Lady Tigers’ warmup session.
“New Amber Aler – wait, no!” he said, having pulled the device out of his pocket to read the message but surprised by the actual contents. “It’s from the National Weather Service: ‘A dust storm … likely … in your area.”
And both DNHS and visiting Ignacio were about to clash squarely in its eye.
Though already tasting dirt blown about by winds consistently around 30 mph, but gusting faster, Madrid had to grin. While knowing that unless precipitation – which the ominous clouds overhead appeared ready to release at any moment – actually arrived, the 2A Southwestern League match would begin as scheduled.
Sure enough, play commenced as close to 4 p.m. as possible, and the Lady Bobcats quickly pounced upon a Del Norte squad drastically reduced by injury and absence since the teams’ March meeting at IHS Field.
Awarded a corner kick only four minutes in, junior Harmony Reynolds positioned herself perfectly to receive senior Alannah Gomez’s service in from goalie Kelsie Dahle’s left, and converted it into a quick 1-0 advantage. That came with her right foot; she’d then double the lead with her left in the sixth minute, after dribbling with relative ease through Del Norte’s defenders.
Sophomore Darlyn Mendoza-Lechuga increased the lead to three goals in the 14th minute, to four in the 38th off an assist from junior Laci Brunson, and then to five with an unassisted stoppage-time strike, the result of a calm weave through four Lady Tigers.
Brunson would keep the offense clicking along with a 44th-minute goal after a DNHS turnover inside their own 18.
Gomez made the score 7-0 after intercepting an attempted clearance pass about 30 yards from goal, then arcing a shot over a drawn-out Dahle, her mobility limited by a right MCL injury suffered a week earlier.
Mendoza-Lechuga ran onto a Gomez pass to book IHS’ eighth goal in the 65th minute, and junior Faye Hackett got in on the action in the 68th, scoring after intercepting a Dahle goal kick and redirecting the ball back into the open net.
Allowing Del Norte (0-11, 0-5 2A SWL) just one off-target shot after intermission, Ignacio improved to 2-7 overall and 2-4 in league via the 9-nil shutout. And though head coach Alisha Gullion was certainly pleased with her team’s ability to move the ball forward and link passes to create scoring opportunities, she was even more impressed by her squad’s defensive work — which included goalie Trinity Strohl making four saves (unofficially), plus senior Rhianna Carel chasing down a DNHS player from behind and denying her a chance during the second half.
“They came out, worked well together,” she said. “My defensive line, man, they moved like a living organism; I was so proud of that movement! If one would go up, they would cover … moving exactly how I want them to move.”
The Lady ’Cats were also scheduled to visit Alamosa (6-5, 3-1 3A SWL) on Tuesday.
