Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Lady Tigers can't hang on to two-goal lead

Lady Eagles, Tigers, Eagles get victories

News-Bulletin reports

A two-goal advantage with 14 minutes to play in a soccer match is usually a safe lead, but not on Saturday at Los Lunas High School's Volunteer Field.

The host Lady Tigers dominated most of their match against Valley in both possession of the ball and scoring opportunities, only to see a few bad plays lead to a 3-2 defeat, just their second loss of the season.

"We have to keep playing our game, and I think we panicked a bit after the second goal," said LLHS coach James Torres after his team dropped to 7-2. "Defensively we were OK, but offensively, we got away from our possession game."

The Tigers put plenty of pressure on Valley goalkeeper Sienna Harbin early, and had more than enough chances to have the 1-0 lead they held at halftime. Brook Serrano put in a feed from Randi Ryan in the 18th minute.

Jackie Candelaria scored in the 49th minute after chasing down a pass from Lesly Torres, and LLHS was applying just as much offensive pressure. But a few more missed opportunities, such as some entry passes no Tiger touched, seem to wear the hosts down.

Valley (3-4) got its first goal in the 66th minute when a corner kick by the Vikings' Jordan DeBrine bounced high and untouched before Rosario Maroquin-Flores kicked it past Tiger goalkeeper Bailey Ryan.

The Vikings tied the game with eight minutes to play when Leah Bidwell was whistled for a controversial foul just outside the penalty box. She made contact with a smaller Valley player, shoulder-to-shoulder, though Bidwell appeared to touch the ball first.

DeBrine took the free kick and lobbed in to Ryan's right. Ryan got her gloves on the ball, but it slipped past her and into the net.

Valley got another free kick, from about 10 yards farther away, with less than two minutes left in the game. A perfect free kick by Bailey Roue of the Vikings sailed over Ryan's head for the game-winning goal.

The Tigers were set to take on Cibola late Tuesday after News-Bulletin press time. Their next opponent will be a highly regarded Volcano Vista team, a first-year varsity Class 4A team that is 4-3, having beaten Sandia Prep, Bosque Prep and downed Valley 5-0.

Belen 7,

Capital 0

The Lady Eagles continued its successful start to the season with a 7-0 thrashing of Capital at home on Saturday, improving to 8-3 on the year, as they pounded the outmatched Jaguars (1-5), who have been outscored 28-3 this season.

"We played overall a really good game," Belen coach Melissa Jaramillo said. "We had better shots and a lot of ball movement."

After two Lady Eagles' goals in the opening minutes of the match were disallowed due to offsides calls, Belen was awarded a penalty kick, which Kayla D'Arcangeli converted in the 22nd minute.

Just one minute later, Marysa Cordova doubled the lead with an unassisted goal, and the Eagles' lead stood at 3-0 three minutes after that when D'Arcangeli added a goal that was assisted by Kasia Cano.

Belen took a 4-0 lead into halftime after Kelli Williams scored unassisted in the 36th minute, and Williams scored again in the 60th minute on a header from a D'Arcangeli corner kick.

Jaramillo said she was particularly happy with that goal, since her team had been working on corner kicks in practice.

The Eagles scored twice more in a span of four minutes from the 69th to the 73rd. Nicolle Sanchez and D'Arcangeli scored the goals, and Williams and Cano got the assists.

BHS goalkeeper Desirae Saiz had two saves in the match.

Class 4A Belen will travel to Class 5A Manzano on Wednesday for a 4:30 p.m. match. The Eagles are then idle until traveling to Moriarty on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

BOYS

Belen 3,

Capital 0

The Eagles (6-3) avenged a loss at Capital in 2007 by jumping on the scoreboard quickly against the visiting Jaguars (5-3) in a battle of Class 4A teams.

A hat trick by one of Belen's leading scorers, Cameron D'Arcangeli, accounted for all three of Belen's goals. Another of the Eagles' top guns, Jaime Hernandez, had the assist on D'Arcangeli's goal in the ninth minute that put the hosts up 1-0.

The match was then scoreless until the 66th minute, when D'Arcangeli put in a pass from Jesus Vasquez. D'Arcangeli scored again about seven minutes later, with Marcos Martinez getting the assist. The Eagles outshot the Jaguars 19-3 in the match.

BHS coach Brian Weems said both Miguel Sabinas and Orlando Pina returned to the lineup to face Capital after having missed time with injuries.

The Eagles are set to host Class 5A Manzano on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the Eagles will host Moriarty in a 4 p.m. match.

Los Lunas 3,

Del Norte 1

The Tigers bounced back from Thursday's tough loss at the hands of top-ranked La Cueva with a 3-1 win over Del Norte on Saturday at the Farmers Insurance Soccer Complex.

Reversing a trend of giving up early goals in each of their last two matches, it was Los Lunas that scored in the opening minutes, as Jonathan Cole put Los Lunas on the board in the fourth minute. Ever Gonzales picked up an assist on the play.

Los Lunas scored two more goals in the first half, as Zachary Jones and Jose Jaime-Rodriguez scored in the 14th and 27th minutes, respectively.

That was all the Tigers would need, as they held the Knights off the board until they allowed Del Norte's lone goal in the 64th minute, which came courtesy of Cody West.

The Tigers were set to host Albuquerque High late Tuesday after News-Bulletin press time.

Los Lunas has a total of 13 scheduled home matches this year, including a Thursday date with Valley at 4:30 p.m. and an 11 a.m. match on Saturday against West Mesa.

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