By LOU MARTIN
The Progress
The Virgin Valley High School girl soccer team won a tough defensive match 2-1 over Durango High School on Wednesday evening, Sept. 7, in the Dawg Pound.
The Bulldogs came out strong to begin the match attacking the Trailblazers defense. Strikers Katrina Beltran and Natalie Isidro shared five straight shots on goal in their first five possessions. But the Trailblazers were up to the occasion keeping the Bulldogs from goal.
A short water break, due to the high temperature, seemed to give the Dawgs a boost as they moved quickly down field with pin-point passing, setting up a goal by Beltran at the 26 minute mark of the first period.
The Bulldogs then shut down Durango for 35 minutes until Trailblazer Jayla Tobler took a corner kick and smashed it by the Dawgs keeper to tie the match at 1-1 after one period of play.
The second period began with Durango on the offensive attack putting up 3 shots by Tobler. Bulldog freshman goalkeeper Julitsa Silvyera didn’t disappoint Bulldog fans as she kept the Trailblazers at bay with one of her 9 saves on the day.
The Dawgs and Durango continued to attack each other’s goal early until Isidro broke free at the 56 minute mark striking goal to give the Dawgs a 2-1 advantage.
Neither team could take advantage of shots on goal the rest of the game as each team’s goalkeepers performed well.
The final score stayed at 2-1 giving the Dawgs a 3-1 season record.
“During the first half of play, Durango suffocated our attack in the middle of the field,” said VVHS coach Tom Dailor after the match. “During the second half we released the ball quicker to the wings and were able to penetrate their defense and generate a lot of high quality scoring opportunities inside their penalty box but were unable to finish due to a combination of poor targeting on our part and outstanding goalkeeping on their part.”
“We need to work on our finishing technique and learn to read our opponents strategy and strengths early and make necessary adjustments sooner,” Dailor added.
The Bulldogs travel to Equipo Academy on Tuesday September 13 before returning home to face SLAM on Thursday, September 15. All varsity games begin at 6pm.
