The Montezuma-Cortez Panthers and Durango Demons entered halftime of Thursday’s contest tied at one goal apiece.
But the second half belonged to the Demons.
With the game tied at 1-all at the break, Durango head coach Dalon Parker politely asked junior Lane Arnwine to put one in the net.
And within a minute of play after the intermission, the go-ahead goal came off the junior forward’s foot and kicked off a huge second half for Durango High School that propelled the Demons to a 4-1 win.
Arnwine was joined by sophomores Emma Aggeler and Taylor Klone and freshman Kayla Ruberstein as scorers for the Demons.
It was a relief for Durango (5-1, 3-0 5A/4A Southwestern League) because the Demons fell behind early and M-CHS goalkeeper Stevee Brenner made some huge stops in goal. Brenner finished with nine saves, but was issued a yellow card late in the game for arguing with the referee.
After thwarting numerous Durango chances, the Panthers took an early 1-0 lead after Weslie Kirks’ shot deflected off the Demons’ defense into the net. Stephens had no chance because of the late redirection, but the Durango defense was spotless from that moment forward.
“Weslie beat two defenders down the right side and played a beautiful cross,” explained Panthers head coach Nate Ross. “It was a hard, low-driven ball across the middle of the goal, and we had two girls waiting for that ball right in the middle. And then one of the defenders from Durango tried to clear it and couldn’t get her whole foot on it and it deflected into the goal.”
Shortly after the Panthers (2-2, 0-1 5A-4A SWL) grabbed the lead, they were called for a penalty in the box, and Aggeler was able to put the penalty kick past Brenner to tie the game at one.
“From there, the momentum changed in favor of Durango and they started to pressure more and win more fifty-fifty balls,” Ross said. “And that was kind of the telling moment for us, as far as the momentum of the game changing.”
Early in the second half, the Demons capitalized on their momentum to pull away.
Arnwine’s goal gave Durango a lead, and Klone took little time to give the Demons a two-goal cushion.
Later in the half, Ruberstein was the recipient of a nice setup from Sarah Vierling and deposited the final tally of the day, and Durango held M-CHS scoreless for the remainder of the contest to win, 4-1.