ST. MICHAEL’S AT SANTA FE PREP

You figured Santa Fe Prep had it all figured out. One of the state’s better 3A girls soccer program, it played two weeks ago at St. Michael’s Christian Brothers Athletic Complex and although it lost only 2-1, it was also a no contest rout.

Yes, that match in Santa Fe saw the Lady Horsemen outshoot the Griffins, 16 to three, and these were the same Griffins that turned back

Robertson 3-2, and in the return match forced a 1-1 tie.

And so here they were St. Michael’s at Sun Mountain Field Wednesday afternoon, a nice sunny day, no clouds, no winds, and Prep was aching to avenge the previous setback. The other problem was, the change in pitches, the same lineups, and just another no contest romp at 5-0, that was the most goals scored against the Griffins all season.

It began the same way it began the other time. Quickly, the Lady Horsemen seized possession and scored three times in the first half, twice more in the 2nd, and the 16 shots by them the first time was now history, for this time the swift teamwork and ease that the visitors displayed brought 25 shots to only five by the home team on what is the pitch for St. John’s College.

The end result put the Lady Horsemen at 14-4-1 and clinched District 2-3A and a possible third straight appearance in the state finals. Last year, they lost a 1-0 tight tussle to Albuquerque Sandia Prep, the year before they dominated  Socorro, 4-1 in what was head coach Alfonso Camarena’s first season with St.

Michael’s.

And when you’re hot, you remain hot, and that’s how senior midfielder,

forward Grace Sandoval and sophomore midfielder/forward Eliana Lovato were, Sandoval scored twice this time after tallying the hat trick in the stunning 6-2 win over Robertson, Lovato scored the last two goals of that match and added one more this time.

The initial goal for the visitors was by junior midfielder/forward Tara Schneider at the 33;34 mark of the match, At 26:41, Lovato got the ball past Prep freshman goalkeeper Maya Crawford. With 2:29 left in the half, it was Sandoval scoring on an outside penalty shot.

No change in the second half. Prep got off one shot and was helped by four Crawford saves on its end. In the second half, it sent three shots to the goal and all were turned away by St. Michael’s senior goalie Jacqueline Gorman, who had three saves for the day in her first campaign as goalkeeper.

The two tallies after the intermission came from junior midfielder/defender Jada Lujan, and Sandoval making good on a one-on-one penalty shot. It was Gorman’s seventh shutout of the season, and junior defender/midfielder Cameren Gantt got off a yellow card shot that just missed the goal.

The Lady Horsemen have now totaled 79 goals and allowed 18. Santa Fe Prep came into this game with 80 goals and they stayed that way while yielding 20. its overall record is 14-3-1, its district mark is 5-2-1.

And that’s that, a lesson to be learned is that it’s best to improve on a previous mitch-match. But it just couldn’t happen because St. Michael’s wouldn’t let it.