Girls soccer falls to the Pirates in home opener

Heading into their first home opener against a strong division rival, the Trojans knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Before the season began, head coach Amy Carlson acknowledged that this year will face its own challenges in the goalkeeper position, and unfortunately, she wasn’t too far off.

The Trojans defense was tough as nails despite two keeping miscues by senior goalkeeper Julie Briggs that allowed Moapa Valley to take a 2-0 victory back with them on the long drive home.

Despite the setback, the Trojans never lost heart. A lot of good can be said about a team that goes down 2-0 early in the contest and never stops the attack.

With multiple strikes that went off the top of the crossbar, the Trojans got some good shots on goal but just weren’t able to capitalize on the momentum.

“They came alive. I mean, the last five minutes was the best five minutes they’ve played in the last two games. So if we would have played even half of that for 20 minutes, it would have been different,” Carlson said. “We told them it’s just they’re not connecting.”

To give credit where it is due, the Pirates played a smooth game, mitigating penalties and avoiding mistakes.

This season, the Trojans have dug deep in their bag to try to accommodate the best formations for such a young group of girls on the team.

“I’m basically wanting a 4-2-3-1 formation. In past years we’ve run a 4-4-2, or 4-3-3 since so many new girls that are coming are not really used to the fast-paced play of high school,” Carlson said. “So we switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation and it’s kind of an old formation we’ve used in our club history in the past. It seemed to work for the girls to help spread it out.”

Trojans co-captain, senior Natalia Vallin, was unsatisfied with the contest’s outcome in front of the supportive home crowd as she led a heartfelt speech post-game to her team.

“I know everyone thinks it’s easy and we can just go to state, but we’re going to have to fight,” Vallin passionately proclaimed to her squad.

Heading into their road match up against Boulder City, coach Carlson said that with a hard practice the girls will be bringing a new approach against the Eagles.

“I really hope this just really prepares them, because Boulder is going to be another physical team,” Carlson said.

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.