Senior Kilee Mounyo was on the attack during the Lady Warriors final game of the Sandia Prep tournament against Aztec.
Greg Byrd | El Defensor Chieftain

 

The Lady Warriors came in with just one loss on its record last week. Three games in three days is a challenge for any team. The group came out 2-1, but they did lose to one of their biggest rivals, the Sandia Prep Sun Devils, during a Friday afternoon game with a 2-1 defeat. Thursday’s game against the Goddard Lady Rockets was a 4-2 victory and the squad bookended the weekend with an early Saturday morning win against the Aztec Ladys resulted in a 4-2 victory.

Lady Warriors v Lady Rockets:

Seniors Bryanda Leon, Kilee Mounyo and Elise Madril put their captain straps around their ankles as they walked on the field for the coin toss before the afternoon matchup on the Warriors home field. The Lady Warriors were on point early with senior Lola Apodaca having two quick runs that almost found the net. Socorro was also playing aggressive to start with defenders hovering all the way up to midfield.

Goddard senior Ailyn Miramonte gave Socorro its first scare with a near miss on a breakaway. Lady Warriors sophomore Faith Lucero struck first, sliding through the defense to score. Socorro continued to stay aggressive, but the Lady Rockets bottled up possible scoring opportunities thanks to the hard work of juniors Mariana Perez and Clara Hatch, which led to Goddard tying things up 1-1 off of an easy score by senior Ambrosia Teasyatwho.

At that point, head coach Michael Olguin jumped up, hoping to motivate his team from the sidelines, yelling “Watch their runs girls! They’re coming!” The Lady Warriors responded on a tandem score between Faith Lucero and Lola Apodaca.

Goddard’s goal keeper went down on the next Lady Warriors run, forcing senior Alysson Lara to play out of position. The replacement goal keeper was quickly scored on by senior Bryan Leon. The chip shot was scored over the head of the opponent. The score was 4-1 at halftime.

Greg Byrd | El Defensor Chieftain photo

Forward Lola Apodaca was taking heavy punishment with multiple tackles on the field, causing her to step away from the bench in order to catch her breath. The punishment for Apodaca continued in the second half, which included her frustration being vocalized with the ref as she was being elbowed multiple times going towards the opponents goal.

The Lady Rockets were the only team to score in the second half with Teasyatwho finally getting the ball through. It would not be enough as the Lady Warriors finished things off with tough defense towards the win.

“We’re on a good roll right now,” Olguin said. “The girls are definitely starting to gel. What we have to do going forward is focus on our strengths and weaknesses going forward in order to have a shot every game for the rest of the season.”

This win put the Lady Warriors at double digit wins for the first time of the season at 10-1.

Lady Warriors v Lady Tigers:

The Sandia Prep Lady Sundevils have been a pain in Socorro’s proverbial neck in recent history. They took down the Lady Warriors on Friday in a close 2-1 game. Prep’s head coach Matthew Westerlund was on the field early the following morning to see the Lady Warriors compete in their second game of the two day tournament.

“It came down to staying organized defensively,” Westerlund said. “Offensively they (Socorro) were really fast, especially early on. We had to make adjustments in the second half to close down open spaces on the field. Their front three players played very aggressively.”

Due to the round one loss, the Lady Warriors were up early Saturday for an 8:30 a.m. game against the 1-9-1 Aztec Tigers in a non-conference game.

Before starting the third game in three days, head coach Michael Olguin brought in the girls, highlighting the fact that in the previous game defense was lacking. Coach was right early with the back end for Socorro lacking as Aztec had several early runs. Senior Chailynn Amaro bailed the Lady Warriors out with big saves on goal early.

Socorro could not stop the Lady Tigers offense as senior Ashley Sexton had a lightning quick goal to give Aztec an early lead. Then the Lady Warriors offense went to work.

Senior Elise Madril took a long shot outside of the box barely missing the goal. Minutes later Madril got Socorro on the scoreboard off a pass from Lola Apodaca. Shortly afterwards, senior Kilee Mounyo scored again for Socorro in a scramble off of a corner kick. From there the Lady Warriors never relinquished its lead.

Aztec stayed in contention with a PK goal by junior Geremyah Martinez to make it a one score game. Lady Warriors sophomore Faith Lucero sealed the deal with a goal that bounced off the Aztec keeper’s hands.

Towards the end of the match, with frustration heightened, Mounyo got into a shoving match on the field with Lady Tigers freshman Jayden Davis.

“I think we were both pressing each other’s buttons,” Mounyo said. “Obviously they were frustrated being down which is a lot of what happened. She got a bit too upset. I try to stay away from that and I try to be aggressive cleanly. I also won’t back down, and neither does this team.”

After indulging in breakfast burritos provided by Sandia Prep, a confident coach Olguin hopped on the bus with his team on the way back to Socorro for a well deserved rest.

“We came out very sluggish during yesterday’s game,” he said. “Obviously Sandia Prep is always good. But in the end this win is a good way to go back home as we head into more tough games heading into October. Going down 1-0 and coming back showed this team’s composure.”

The Lady Warriors have a non district game on September 28. District play for them begins on October 12 against Hatch Valley.

NM Class A/3A Standings:

  1. Socorro; 11-2
  2. Sandia Prep; 8-3
  3. East Mountain; 6-3-1