It took a dozen years, but the top-seeded St. Michael’s girls soccer team now has another state championship

By Arnie Leshin 

Nine matches, all in the victory column, and one scoreless tie, and in any language, that translates to perfecto, and kudos to the St. Michael’s girls soccer team for wrapping all this up into the state 1A/3A championship.

 

The program’s fifth state title came after an undefeated regular season, and after the Lady Horsemen first dominated visiting Albuquerque Sandia Prep, 4-0, on Tuesday’swindy afternoon, and followed by Thursday’s 4-1 impressive triumph over Socorro at the University of New Mexico’s Soccer Complex.

 

After 4-straight years of a different head coach each time, Alfonso Camarena, whose two daughters played soccer at St. Michael’s, applied for the vacant position, paused for time spent without sports due to the coronavirus pandemic, and when his girls finally took the field, they were more then ready.

 

Rachel Morgan, one of three seniors on the squad, began playing varsity as a freshman under Gerzain Chavez, who was there for one season and is now an assistant under Camarena, then she played for another one-year head coach and another as a junior when the team lost 1-0 in the state final to Sandia Prep.

 

Now she’s overjoyed to have yet another head coach in Camarena, and thankful for celebrating her senior year with a state championship.

 

“As a freshman,” Morgan said, “I didn’t play much. I was young and had no thoughts whatsoever of my future on the soccer team. But I played more each year, and now I get the greatest gift I could get to be with all these great girls, a new and wonderful coach, and win state.”

 

It was a remarkable campaign for the Lady Horsemen in this abbreviated COPID-19 season. They handily won all four District 1A/3A matches, gave up one goal in the 2-1 season opening win at nine-time state champion Sandia Prep, and pitched shutouts the rest of the way, and after getting away to 4-0 lead over Socorro, gave up a goal by junior Lola Apodaca with seven minutes to play.

 

But it didn’t matter, the victory was well in hand. St. Michael’s, as it did in blanking the frustrated Sundevils in the semis, did more of the same to close the Warriors’ season out at 7-4-1, but none of the other loses was like this one. The stout Lady Horsemen defense yielded only three shots to Socorro’s leading scorer, junior Elise Madrill, and two of them came on saves from goalkeeper Milena Keene. 

 

Keene, in fact, had an amazing day. She made numerous stops, some on high shots that she had to bring down, others on just coming out of the net to boot them back up field. And time after time when Socorro tried to make its way past midfield, there were St. Michael’s defenders who converged to send the ball back. 

 

No so when the Lady Horsemen mounted an attack. Their passing was stellar, numerous times they found their way to the Warriors’ goal, and on four occasions, scored.

 

The first came 31 minutes into the first half when Morgan got away a shot from 40 yards out and it dribbled its way into the Socorro goal when it’s keeper came out. The assist came from senior Francis Schneider. At 26:11, it was sophomore Elsa Rammey Smith heading the ball past junior keeper Chailynn Amero, with an assist from sophomore Grace Sandoval.

 

“We are playing very well,” Camarena said at halftime. “We must keep putting the pressure on them, keeping them from our goal.”

That they did. Each time the Warriors tried to get their offense in gear, the D kicked them away, thus keeping them from attacks on Keene and having to retreat in order to stop the St. Michael’s threats on goal. 

 

“We did what we intended to do,” said Rammey Smith. “We came out, set the pace, and when we scored first, we knew we had the upper hand. It was similar to Sandia Prep, where we scored against the wind and then controlled the second half with the wind. No wind here today, but we still found ways to set the pace and maintain it.”

 

In the second half, the confident Lady Horsemen made it 3-0 when Morgan boomed a shot over the goaltenders’ head, and with senior Olivia Farrah assisting at 34:31 of the half. At 23:06, it was the same Farrah booting an unassisted shot to the right of the goalie to up the lead to 4-0. Then came only the second goal against St. Michael’s.

 

At the final whistle, the Lady Horsemen celebrated with hugs, photos, getting their medals and championship trophy, and with the sounds of “We are the Champions” coming from the announcer’s booth. And like the National Hockey League Stanley Cup, they passed their trophy along to each other. Then they headed over to the stands to greet the many St. Michael’s supporters.

 

It was the fifth state championship for St. Michael’s on the pitch, the last one coming in 2009, while Socorro has yet to win state in girls soccer. 

 

“These girls were wonderful to coach,” said Camarena. “From the early days when we had to contend with the pandemic, to when we were able to practice then finally play.”