MVHS Girls’ Soccer Suffer Set Backs With Injuries

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Girls Soccer team traveled to Mesquite on Monday, September 24, for a first meeting with Virgin Valley. In the first half, the Pirates came out looking like the better squad. But an early injury started a string of downfalls for the offense.

Senior forward Ashlyn Western left the game with a heel injury. With Western out of the game, the Pirates were left to improvise in scoring goals. The team kept control of possession and entered the halftime break tied 0-0.

In the second half, the story was much the same. Then a series of pivotal events changed the storyline.
Freshman defender, Ellie Cornwall was called for a yellow card late into the second half after a tackle the officials deemed worthy of a foul. Moments later, Cornwall that was extended to a red card for a handball.

Suddenly the Pirates had to play with just ten players on the field. Already down one of their top scorers, Moapa had to play catch-up on defense too.

Minutes later, the Bulldogs broke through for a goal scored by Rainee Brito and assisted by Karla Correa.
“I think it was just us adjusting to the one less player and it had affected us,” said MVHS coach Lisa Cornwall. “But even after we made that adjustment, we were down on their end once again.”
While the Pirates had a few more attack opportunities, they wouldn’t be able to find the almighty equalizer. Virgin Valley would win 1-0.

“That game, I can honestly say, we totally dominated the other team,” said Cornwall. “That’s what is so frustrating. You make one mistake and they can capitalize on it. That’s on us. But next time we meet them, things will be a little bit different.”

Two days later, the Pirates had a chance to bounce back from their 0-2 record in front of a good turnout of home fans against the Sky Pointe Eagles. But Moapa faced a tough slate of inactive players. Ashlyn Western and Ellie Cornwall remained inactive due to the events of the previous game. A practice injury left Kaitlyn Hopkins sidelined as well. It was up to the younger players to fill the spots.
After one half of play, neither side scored.

It would be Phylene Marquez, fresh off of being pulled up from the JV roster, who got things going. Marquez scored the goal that gave Moapa a 1-0 lead

Unfortunately, just minutes later, Marquez stumbled on an attack and suffered a pair of wrist injuries. “I just pulled her up from JV and she kind of sparked the whole flame!” Cornwall said. “She got it started and then the next time down she fell over. It’s really unfortunate.”
But the coach was right about sparking the flame. Moments later in the half, Madi Fairchild scored to make it 2-0.

With only minutes left in the half, and keeper Kyra Larsen staying strong on the Pirates’ side of the field, Moapa Valley added one more goal for safety. This time, it would be sophomore Makayla Baldwin who put it in.

The Pirates would win 3-0 for their first regular season win of the year. This came thanks to the performance of the underclassmen stepping up to the plate.
“I thought for us to come up with the win and having the younger players score was huge,” said Cornwall. ““Sometimes they have a little more of that fire when they are trying to impress the older players.”

Now rallying from behind with a 1-2 record, the Pirates face an uphill battle. But that hasn’t stopped them from reaching the summit before.