SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
She got right to the point.
“It’s my favorite sport and I was just very nervous all week, it was the state tournament for me and St. Michael’s, and I just couldn’t get it off my mind after the season began winding down to this match at home.”
Well, it was the state Class 1A/3A girls soccer state tournament quarterfinals and it was now game time for Sophia Miera as she ran off her thoughts from day to day.
A sophomore who stands maybe 5-foot-1 and is the starting forward and leading scorer for the 4th-seeded Lady Horsemen, from the opening whistle Friday afternoon at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex, to the final whistle, Miera certainly pieced all her thoughts together in All-State style.
This was after the team had earlier in the week gone through the daily newspaper at the fore gone conclusion words of the opponent, 5th-seeded Santa Fe Prep’s head coach Adelyn Smith who dared her visiting team to “Crush St. Mike’s” in just those words, and added that she was disappointed at how her team had a fared in the previous 3-2 double overtime defeat.
Too bad, coach, but it just didn’t work out for you simply because of the awesome play of Miera and rest of head coach Alfonso Camarena’s well-prepared St. Michael’s crew.
Fact is, it was only close at 1-1 after Meria scored the opening goal quickly at 37:33 of the first half and Prep junior midfielder Olive Clay scored three minutes later for the deadlock.
As for the fancy-football, quick legs Miera, that was her start of probably her finest match of this season. Boom, boom, boom, three more goals followed around a tally from sophomore midfielder-sweeper Illiana Sandoval and finished in the final minutes by senior forward Jada Lujan.
That was it, a 6-1 shellacking perhaps never visioned by the Griffins or their head coach. It was a runaway in every phase of the game, shots, shots made, possession, tie-ups that were headed and booted by the Lady Horsemen on almost every play, and also possession for the home side on almost every out of bounds plays, as in a count of 24-6.
Yes, it was a total team effort and Miera paved the way with a Hat Trick plus one, and a pair of assists. Prep just couldn’t contain her. She was simply too quick. On one-and-one plays, the ball belonged to her, and the rest of the time, the team just followed suit.
“I got past them a lot,” she said, “with two close-in shots and the other two from shots up the middle of the goal. We just did a number on them and I guess their head coach was quite a ways off.”
Granted let’s say, a lot and lot and lot off.
Miera’s other goal in the first half were at 31:28, and Sandoval tallied at 24:37 for a 3-1 halftime lead before a huge throng of St. Michael’s fans that perhaps totaled somewhere in the 800s. The host school allowed students out before the 3 o’clock start, and they just enjoyed an entertaining performance from the stands.
“I’m so happy,” Miera said, “my family is up there in the stands and we are going to celebrate tonight, have a ball after this. I haven’t see them yet, but when I do, we will begin to celebrate.”
It was so one-sided that the 5th-seeded Griffins only got off two shots in the second half. Lady Horsemen goalkeeper sophomore Marisa Dominguez made a pair of stops then and four prior to the intermission. And the reason was because of the tight defense applied by the Lady Horsemen who now await the defending state champion No. 1 Albuquerque Sandia Prep winner versus No. 8 Hatch Valley.
For St. Michael’s in the second half, Miera scored at the 22-minute mark and Lujan with 8:26 to go. By that time, Prep looked leery, worn down, and it was a dismal finish to a rout.
If the Griffins’ head coach had nothing to say, let it be. In the three matches against the Lady Horsemen, her team did win a 4-3 pouring rain game at its Sun Mountain Field, then lost the 3-2 pair of overtimes in the 98th minute.
Coach Camarena had kind words for everyone on his team, even the injured sideline players.
For Sandoval he said: “Let me tell you, she keeps things going, she supplies the leadership, makes sure the team is doing everything right, and is another reason why we played so well.”
Senior midfielder-defender Tara Schneider got some time in after two bottom leg injuries kept her sidelined. This was her third match back and she said she was happy to get in there.
“Heck,” she said, “we just played so well, but I was glad to do my part, and hope I can get in there in the next round of state.”
As the final seconds wound down, Camarena was cheering his team on with “Go Ladies, Go Horses, but left Go Crush out, probably not in respect for the opposite coach, just that he didn’t need it (and neither did she).
“We really put together a full game,” he said. “I’m proud of that.”
And happy to be able to coach in the next round, where last year at this time he was temporally suspended for illegal recruiting and not able to coach the 2-1 setback against Sandia Prep in the semifinals.
Now he will versus the probable next opponent Sandia Prep
