After beating Pagosa Springs on Wednesday, the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers (3-6, 1-6 5A/4A Southwestern League) dropped consecutive games over the weekend.
On Friday, the Lady Panthers hosted the Fruita Monument Wildcats (7-5, 6-1 5A/4A Southwestern League), who had previously beaten M-CHS, 7-1.
The Wildcats came away with another victory, but after holding Fruita to a 1-0 lead at half and accounting for a fluke goal, head coach Nate Ross was happy with his team’s defensive effort in the 4-1 loss.
“I was so proud of our girls,” said Ross. “That was the best defense that we have played this year. We were going to attack Fruita, but I decided to have more of a defensive mindset, and it paid off.”
The visiting Wildcats sole first-half score came 20 minutes in, when senior Baseley McClaskey got around the edge of the Panthers’ defense and put a shot by goalkeeper Stevee Brenner.
Brenner saved six other Wildcat shots in the first half – and finished with 15 saves in the match – so the Panthers were fortunate to be down just 1-0 considering the amount of opportunities Fruita managed.
The Wildcats’ second goal was bizarre.
Six minutes into the second half, Fruita moved into M-CHS territory and wound up with the ball in the box. As two players converged on the ball, it popped straight into the air, and after landing with a funky spin, bounced over Brenner’s head into the goal to give the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage.
“Sometimes when two girls go for the ball and it pops up, that ball just has so much spin on it that a keeper can’t read what type of bounce it’s going to have when it hits the ground,” Ross explained. “It was just an unlucky bounce that went straight up in the air and then hit the ground and had that spin that took the ball over the top of Stevee and into the goal.”
After a goal by Shaylee Holt gave Fruita a 3-0 lead, M-CHS had it’s best chance to score on a penalty kick, after the Wildcats’ keeper was issued a yellow card for elbowing Rylee Lindsley.
Senior Gabby Wolf stepped up for the free kick and provided the Panthers’ only goal in the contest, while Fruita scored once more off a corner kick.
In Saturday’s match, Montrose (7-5, 3-3 5A/4A Southwestern League) took control from the start.
Senior Holly Brooks got the visitors on the board with a goal just two minutes into the game, and she scored again 35 minutes in to send the Indians to the break with a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers, on the other hand, did not attempt a shot until 23 minutes into the contest, and it was their only attempt in the first half.
“We just didn’t have the depth on our bench today,” Ross said after the game. “We were missing some key players – Weslie (Kirks) and Britaney (Hampton) – so as far as us getting into attacking space to have opportunities, it just wasn’t there.”
The Panthers’ depth took even more of a hit in the second half, when Elena Cosner and Gabby Wolf both went out with injuries.
Cosner was tackled from behind, drawing a yellow card and injuring her shoulder, while Wolf appeared woozy after heading a ball at midfield.
Although Wolf was cleared by trainer Colby Smith, having suffered concussions in the past, she played it safe and stayed on the sideline for the remainder of the contest.
With a thin roster and multiple M-CHS players forced to play all 80 minutes, Montrose took advantage of the Panthers’ fatigue and added three more goals in the second half to win, 5-0.
“In this league you have to be prepared to play a tough team one day and then the next morning you have to wake up and play another tough team,” said Ross. “We came out flat – and there’s no excuse – we had some mental errors defensively, but there was some good stuff.”
M-CHS next hosts Grand Juntion (1-10, 0-6 5A/4A Southwestern League) on Friday at 5 p.m. and then Grand Junction Central (5-6-1, 3-2 5A/4A Southwestern League) on Saturday at 10 a.m.
