St. MIchael’s finally broke up a scoreless tie against East Mountain

Perhaps it was just first round jitters, but with time ticking down in the first half, 3rd-seeded and defending state a 1A/3A girls soccer championship St. MIchael’s finally broke up a scoreless tie against the challenge of 6th-seeded East Mountain.

It was a home match at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex Friday afternoonand despite being a hands-down favorite in this state quarterfinals, it took an approximate 30-yard penalty shot from junior Grace Sandoval that just sailed untouched past sophomore goal keeper Raylee Allen.

That brought St. Michael’s initial celebration and it just wore down the Timberwolves after intermission to post a 4-0 triumph, its 11th shut out of the campaign, and now heads to 2nd-seeded Socorro for Tuesday’s semifinals, with the winning facing No. 1 seeded Albuquerque Sandia Prep in the state finals at the University of New Mexico Soccer Complex.

And that’s where the Lady Horsemen completed an 8-0 season by turning back Socorro, 4-1. Now the teams play at the Warriors where St. Michael’s lost 1-0, in the regular season.

But in the quarters, it took the two long-range kicks booted by Sandoval, who leads the team in goals along with sophomore Elsa Ranney Smith, with both alternating between forward and midfielder.

Before the Sandoval untouched goal, it was the Lady Horsemen (14-4 overall) hanging out at the visitors goal and getting off eight shots in the first half, while East Mountain came away with but one shot while St. MIchael’s won its 8th match in a row, and now has scored 92 goals while allowing only a dozen.

Early in the second half, Sandoval lined up for another free kick from about the same distance, and that one also went untouched as it made its way to the left of the goaltender, and it was now 2-0. She almost had a third via a corner kick  at the 31:04 mark of the half, but it became an “own” kick when keeper Allen mistakenly let it get to the net when she tried to bat it away.

Now it was 3-0 and the final goal came with eight minutes remaining on another long-range kick from sophomore midfielder/forward Tara Schneider that flew to the left past the goalie. It made quite a difference when the home side rounded out its shots with 13 that totaled 21 alongside two shots from the Timberwolves and four tough saves from their goalkeeper.

“I think I have made five long kicks before this,” Sandoval said, “and it’s a great feeling to make a shot like that.”

Her favorite sport is truly soccer. She plays club ball and is coming out for the school’s track and field for the first time. But soccer was her favorite at 3 and 4  years old.

As for track she said: “I think I will run the 400 and relay races,” after second-year head coach Alfonso Camarena gave his post-game talk. “It will be fun to compete again with Jacquelin (Gorman), who is an “animal” in track.”

Sandoval is a regular starter and Gorman comes off the bench. They shared the fun with 8th-grader Iliana Sandoval (no relation), sophomore forward Elsa Ranney Smith, junior midfielder/defender Farrah Baker, and Schneider, and as usual Keene didn’t have much to do, but did leap high to snatch a first half shot taken by senior striker/midfielder Kalee Baker.

But Baker and fellow senior striker Sierra Larson, their team’s leading scorers. got off a shot each for the day. Both were often trapped and could not get a breakaway attack in the making.

It’s a young squad that Camarena put together when he took over before last year’s shortened season. And it’s still a young squad with six, yes six 8th-graders, with Iliana Sandoval the best of all and who gets to see plenty of action on the pitch.

Then there’s only one freshman to go with four sophomores, six juniors and three seniors, the same as last season. And playing the semis at Socorro comes after a tight 1-0 setback there this regular season, so at least the Lady Horsemen will be more familiar this time with the pitch.

“It was a close game for us at Socorro,” Camarena said, “but I expect to see us win this time. As for today, it was an awaking for us when Grace made that great shot near the end of the half, and then we settled down to dominate the second half.”