Pirate Boys Beat Bulldogs

By GANNON HANEVOLD

Moapa Valley Progress

For years, the Moapa Valley High School (MVHS) boys soccer team has had one common goal: beat the Bulldogs. And for many seasons in a row, the team has had no luck in achieving that goal. But their luck changed on Monday, September 24.

Before fans had an opportunity to blink, it was MVHS defensive anchor Eirik Monsvoll who led the way with a few takeaways in the opening minutes. But none were more important than his stop in the midfield, less than five minutes in the game. Monsvoll took the ball away from a Virgin Valley forward, danced around a Bulldog defender, and sent it ahead to Moapa’s leading scorer, Sebastean Gutierrez. With just a goalkeeper left in the way, Gutierrez scored to make it 1-0.

Just a few minutes later, the Pirates were set up with a free kick opportunity from a few yards outside of the box. Monsvoll stepped up to take the shot for his team and put it in the top left corner of the goal.
“Defensively (Monsvoll) is huge,” remarked MVHS coach Randy Tobler. “We have a new goalie and four new defenders, and he gave us some leadership back there.
“He’s fast enough to cover the balls on the side if he has to,” Tobler added. “And he gives us the ability to make runs from the backfield.”

Later in the first half, Gabriel Hernandez hit a ball off the crossbar that bounced out. But it eventually was ruled to have landed inside the goal line. This made the score 3-0, in favor of the Pirates.

A few missed shots by Virgin Valley and saves by Brody Olive kept it a first period shutout.
The trend continued in the second half as Moapa seemed to play more on their end of the field. Eventually, Tristan Oliver of the Bulldogs, put his team on the board to make it 3-1.
With the Bulldog offense picking up, Olive kept making saves for the Pirates and he delivered when needed. Eventually, the Pirates turned things around.

Sophomore Zach Bailey narrowly missed a shot with little time left on the clock. Minutes later, he shot from the same spot landing his ball in the back of the Bulldog net. Now up 4-1, the Pirates coasted their way to their first victory over the Bulldogs.

“We’ve been talking about it for almost a week,” said Tobler. “They were motivated to beat the Bulldogs and came out hard.
“You could tell when they scored the first goal that everyone wanted to jump in on that and score the next one,” Tobler continued. “They played a good game and I was proud of them.”

Two days later, the team traveled into Las Vegas for a matchup with Sky Pointe Eagles. Falling out of positioning combined with a bizarre playing surface added up to a sum of a tough final score for the Pirates against the Eagles.
Sky Pointe, known for their abnormal soccer field conditions, led 1-0 at the half.

In the second half, the Pirates finally found their rhythm and seemed to play more aggressively. But ultimately, the Eagles slid by for an insurance goal to make it 2-0. That would be the final score.
“It took almost the whole half to get used to playing on the turf,” said Tobler. “There’s about a three foot slope from one end of the field to the other, and only three or four players on the team had played significant time on turf.”

Regardless of a week far from perfection, the team found themselves on top of the rivalry with the Bulldogs for the first time. That was enough to bring a smile to any Pirate fan’s face.
Still optimistic, the 1-2 Pirates look ahead to more tough competition in the regular season.