Battling chilly air and windy conditions at home on April 4, the Montezuma-Cortez High School girls’ soccer team fell to Pagosa Springs, 5-1.
M-CHS head coach Nathan Ross remained optimistic after the game however, noting that his team played far better in the second half of a game that could have been much closer.
“In the second half, we had a much better defensive showing,” Ross said. “In my mind, this game could have easily been 1-1 or 2-1 (in favor of Pagosa). The second half is what I want to remember.”
Among the Panthers’ second-half highlights was a pretty goal by freshman McKenzie Howerton in the 76th minute, which was made possible by a nice touch by junior Josie Sitton.
The goal-scoring play developed after Howerton dribbled the ball down the right wing and crossed the ball toward the middle of the box where Sitton was able to get a foot on it and direct it toward the goal, where Howerton was waiting to slide the ball into the net.
“It was kind of a bad pass on my part, but (Sitton) got her foot on (the ball) and the goalie was going for it,” Howerton said. “I slid in and got my foot on the ball and got it into the net.”
“With our offense, we just have to keep up the pressure because with pressure, we’ll get the ball into the net,” Sitton added.
While the Lady Panthers’ day was highlighted by the late-game scoring play, Pagosa Springs’ day was highlighted by senior Hannah Marnocha, who scored a game-high four goals.
Marnocha’s goals came on a corner kick one minute into the game when the senior drilled the ball toward over the head of M-CHS goalkeeper Dannika Noyes and watched as it deflected off the far post into the net.
Marnocha’s second goal of the game came in the 14th minute when she broke free of the M-CHS defense and fired a hard shot toward the near post that found its way past Noyes to put Pagosa Springs ahead 3-0.
The senior then added to the Pagosa Springs lead just before halftime when she raced down the middle of the field and bodied a perfect crossing pass from Isabelle Pajak into the back of the net to her team ahead 4-0.
“The first half was not good for us defensively,” said Ross. “We didn’t mark well and we left a lot of Pagosa players open in the middle.”
For M-CHS, the 5-1 loss followed a 3-1 road loss to Alamosa on March 31 and a 5-0 road victory over Center on April 1.
Howerton and senior Rylee Lindsley each scored two goals in M-CHS’s victory over Center and senior Maddie Archuleta added a single tally in the win.
Now 2-3-0 on the season, M-CHS will next play at Del Norte on April 7 before facing off against Crested Butte in Gunnison on April 8.