By GANNON HANEVOLD
Moapa Valley Progress
Following the tragedy on the Las Vegas strip two weekends ago, the games on Monday, Oct. 2 were cancelled across all divisions and sports. This left the Moapa Valley High School girls soccer team without their long awaited home matchup against SECTA. But Moapa Valley still hoped to capitalize on a week in which they traveled for two games: one against a challenging out of league opponent in Basic.
The first game of the week came on Wednesday against Chaparral. This was a team the Pirates beat earlier this season by a score of 8-0.
In the first half, Moapa Valley brought that same offensive firepower. They scored seven goals in just the opening half, and spread out their scores among various players as well. Scoring for the Pirates would be Alexis Schraft, Bailey Bunker, Italia Bracamontes, Ashlyn Western, Autumn Morrow, and two from Christie Eriksen.
In the second half, the Pirates looked to no longer accumulate goals, but to instead practice their ball movement and enforce what they’ve worked on in practice. With a goal away from the game being called early, they hoped to improve on a few techniques.
“As a team, we decided we didn’t want the game to stop because this is our game time,” said head coach Lisa Cornwall. “We can use that time to practice with pressure and work on passes. They’re using these opportunities to work together and work on what they’ve been doing at practice.”
Moapa Valley made a switch in goal, putting Natalie Mills in for Jessica Leon. Leon would in fact score the team’s eighth goal of the game.
The final score would be 8-0.
“Natalie is just a good team player and she knew Jessica wanted to get out there,” Cornwall said. “Jessica got a little anxious and saw a shot and took it.”
The second game of the week might not have come within the division, but the Pirates knew they had a tough matchup aheadtaking on the Basic Wolves.
In the first half, the Wolves struck first with a goal scored by Darby Parise. The score would remain 1-0 at half.
In the second half, the Pirates came out determined to tie things up. Lexi Schraft came through with a big goal to tie the score and make things close again.
With the score 1-1, both sides had opportunities to make shots but couldn’t put it in the back of the net. With around two minutes remaining, Min Gibson passed it to Sydnie Hopkins of Basic, who shot an unlikely goal. But it reached the net and put Basic up 2-1 in the final minutes.
The Wolves would get the victory against the Pirates. But Cornwall still feels as if the game was a confidence builder.
“It was disappointing that we couldn’t sink some of our goals,” Cornwall said. “But it’s okay because that will happen sometimes. We really played great, and I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t think so. They see what they’re capable of. They played a team like Basic and to be in there and have people on their sidelines talking about who we are and how good we are, it’s an awesome feeling.”
