The Pahrump Valley girls soccer team will kick off their season this weekend with a 2-day tournament in Spring Creek, Nevada.
First-year head coach Amy Carlson will be leading the Lady Trojans on the field this season.
This year’s team will be top-heavy for Pahrump. The core group of players from the past two seasons will be returning as seniors this year.
Avery Moore, Courtney VanHouse, Emily Lewis, Grace Miller, Kailani Martinez and Paris Coleman have all been key players over the last two seasons under former head coach Julie Carrington, including Pahrump’s run to a state title in 2021.
With two-time leading scorer Adryanna Avena having graduated, the Lady Trojans will be looking to someone else to step up this season to lead the team.
VanHouse was second on the team in scoring over the last two years with a combined 37 goals over that span including a 33-goal season in 2022.
Coleman has been an anchor for Pahrump on their back line as a defender. Despite not having the scoring accolades that an offensive player would have, she has helped keep the pressure off Moore, the team’s starting goalkeeper.
Moore has been the starter all three years at Pahrump. She holds a career record of 44-6-3 and has allowed just 40 goals.
With all of that being said, let’s take a look inside the opponents of the Lady Trojans for the 2023 season.
Spring Creek Tournament
Pahrump will begin their season on Friday morning with a game against the Elko Indians. Elko finished the 2022 season with a 15-7-2 record and an East league title in the 3A division.
Following their game against Elko, the Trojans play in an afternoon matchup with the Reed Raiders.
Reed was part of the shuffle during the summer with schools doing some realignment. They moved from the 5A division to the 4A division.
Reed finished the season with an 11-8-2 record and a second-round exit from the 5A regional playoffs.
The Lady Trojans will close out their tournament in Spring Creek with another doubleheader on Saturday beginning with a morning game against Churchill County and ending the day against Spring Creek.
The Greenwave of Churchill County had a down season in 2022. They finished the year 4-13-2 and a fourth-place finish in the East league.
The Trojans defeated the Greenwave 5-1 in last year’s tournament.
The Spring Creek Spartans faced the Lady Trojans last season in the same tournament. Pahrump came away with a 2-0 win.
The Spartans finished 2022 with a 10-11-1 record and lost in the first round of the 3A northern regional tournament to eventual state runners-up, the Truckee Wolverines.
Cimarron-Memorial (vs. 8/21)
The Lady Trojans will return from their Spring Creek tournament to host Cimarron from the 5A league. This will be the home opener for the 2023 season.
Cimarron-Memorial is the defending Nevada 4A state champions. They were also involved in the realignment over the last few months.
The Spartans went 21-1 last season, only losing to Doral Academy Red Rock in the final regular season game. They allowed just five goals all season and had 19 shutouts.
Virgin Valley (@ 8/23, vs. 10/5)
This is a rematch of the 2022 3A Southern regional championship where the Lady Trojans came away with a 2-1 victory in extra time.
Pahrump took both games between these two teams, also winning the regular season matchup 1-0.
The Bulldogs will be returning with their top three goal scorers, including Katrina Beltran who had 32 goals for Virgin Valley last season. She also had 19 assists for the team.
Sports Leadership &Management (@ 8/28, vs. 10/3)
The SLAM Bulls finished the 2022 season with an undefeated home record. They gave the Lady Trojans their only tie of the year.
The two teams met in the second round of the southern regional tournament last November. Pahrump cruised to victory 5-0.
The Bulls will be returning with two of their top three scorers.
Magaly Lopez and Isabella Haulman are each returning for their senior years. Lopez was the co-leader in goals last season with 18 while Haulman finished the season with 17 goals. They each had five assists as well.
Mojave (vs. 8/30, @ 10/9)
The Mojave Rattlers struggled in the 2022 season. They went 2-14-1 and scored just 19 goals in their 17 games.
Pahrump Valley shut them out in the only meeting last season 12-0.
The Rattlers’ two wins came in a 12-0 victory over Mater Academy East and a 5-1 victory over Chaparral.
Mojave’s leading scorer from the 2022 season was freshman Janielle Luna, who scored five goals.
Chaparral (@ 9/5, vs. 10/11)
The Chaparral Lady Cowboys ended their 2022 season with a 4-15 record and a 1-8 league record. Their lone league win came in a 6-1 victory over Mater Academy East.
The Lady Trojans defeated the Lady Cowboys 12-0 in Pahrump last season.
Sloan Canyon (vs. 9/11, @ 10/17)
This will be the first season that Pinecrest Sloan Canyon will have a girls soccer team. They will be competing in the 3A Mountain League for the 2023 season.
Boulder City (@ 9/13, vs. 10/19)
The Boulder City Lady Eagles finished the 2022 season with a 10-8-4 record and a 6-seed in the southern regional playoffs.
The Eagles were knocked out of the regional tournament in the second round by Virgin Valley.
Pahrump Valley defeated Boulder City 2-1 in the 2021 Southern Regional championship in extra time.
Boulder City will be returning with their top two goal scorers, including a 40-goal season by Makayla Nelson. Natasha Oeland was second on the team with 20 goals and added a team-high 23 assists.
The Trojans defeated the Eagles in both matchups last season by a combined score of 9-2.
Sunrise Mountain (vs. 9/19, @ 10/23)
The Sunrise Mountain Miners were another team involved in the realignment process. They competed in the 4A division for the 2022 season where they finished with a 4-13-3 record to finish 14th in the league.
Beginning this season, the Miners will now be part of the 3A Mountain League. They were previously in the 3A division before moving up in 2020.
Last season’s leading scorer, Briseida Rangel-Flores, will be returning for her junior season after scoring 16 goals for the Miners as a sophomore.
Moapa Valley (vs. 9/21)
The Moapa Valley Lady Pirates finished tied for first place in the Desert league of the 3A division in the 2022 season. They had a record of 15-5-2, good for the No. 2 Desert seed in the regional tournament.
The Pirates were upset in the first round of the regional tournament by SLAM, 3-1.
Moapa Valley’s leading scorer from last season, Mallory Tobler, will be returning for her junior season. She scored 24 goals to lead all Pirates as a sophomore in 2022.
The Lady Trojans and the Lady Pirates tied in their only meeting last season.
Mater Academy East (vs. 9/27, @ 10/25)
This is just the second year for the Mater girls soccer team.
In their first official season in 2022, the Lady Knights went 2-7 and scored just nine goals. Both of their wins came against Cristo Rey St. Viator.
The Lady Trojans defeated the Lady Knights 15-0 in their lone meeting last season.
The Pahrump Valley girls soccer team will be looking to get back to the state tournament for the third consecutive season. You can check scores and stats throughout the season at MaxPreps.com.
Contact sports writer/editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com. Follow @_DannySmyth on Twitter.