The Lady Panthers were welcomed back to Johnson Field with cheers of soccer praise after a successful road trip.
On Friday and Saturday, Montezuma-Cortez High School hosted Fruita Monument and Montrose but came up short, 3-2 and 3-0.
Against Fruita, M-CHS (6-7, 2-7 4A Southwestern League) were bound, determined, physical and energetic. The Lady Panthers were a step ahead of the Lady Wildcats. The only difference, however, was goalkeeping.
Fruita goalie Kylie Goetz dove, finger tipped and blocked nearly everything that came her way. M-CHS backup goalkeeper Danielle Waltman struggled to adjust in the first half and gave up three quick goals, one of which was a penalty kick by Jamie Madson from about 30 yards. Madson had two goals in the half.
We gave up three cheap goals as far as Im concerned. Not one of them goals was anything earned. We gave them to them, M-CHS coach Bobby Sitton said.
Tori Laymon got the Lady Panthers on the board with a goal off of a blocked shot to get her team to within 3-1 at the half.
Allison Porter scored a solo shot in the opening minutes of the second half off a pass from Dominique Wilkin to bring M-CHS to down 3-2.
The Lady Panthers had all the momentum and put a lot of pressure on the visitors. Even Waltmen made her halftime adjustments and didnt give up any more goals. But Goetz didnt give up any more goals, either.
Porter had two more shots on goal that were blocked. Baylee Lindsley even got tripped up in the box and was awarded a penalty kick for M-CHS from around 10 feet out. Lindsleys shot looked good, but Goetz deflected it with her outstretched hands to preserve the lead for Fruita.
Wilkin later got behind Goetz and had an open shot that rolled just left of the net.
In the final seconds, a corner kick that came to Lindsley gave the Lady Panthers one last shot at overtime, but it sailed over the net and M-CHS was out of chances, as the Lady Wildcats escaped with the win.
Cortez definitely came out and showed us theyre a much better team than the first time we played them, Fruita coach Eric Anderson said, referring to a 2-0 home win over M-CHS on March 19. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We knew they were going to come out flying at us. Props to Cortez for not giving up. They just kept fighting. Kylie, our goalie, coming up huge that boosted up our girls.
The following day against the Montrose Indians, M-CHS appeared to be emotionally hungover from the day before and got outplayed in the first half, trailing 2-0.
In the second half, the Lady Panthers got two shots on goal from Abby Engel, and Porter, Wilkin and Kenna Tarr all earned shots, but didnt score.
Nikki Hoelzer eventually put the nail in the coffin of M-CHS with her breakaway goal to put Montrose up 3-0.
I just dont think we were ready to go, Sitton said. We were flat most the game. We werent stepping up to cover. We just gave them to many opportunities. Give a good team too many opportunities, youre going to get beat. Were not finding that consistent pressure that theyre capable of game in, game out.
The Lady Panthers have two home games this week to fight for their playoff lives beginning today at 4 p.m. against Pagosa Springs.
I think we took a step back and were not sure how to take a step forward from here, Wilkin said. Were going to have to pull together as a team and a family. We plan on winning. We all need to come together and decide thats what we want.
The junior varsity team plays at 6 p.m.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com