The Trojans girls soccer team hosted the top team in the league, Western, on Wednesday in a defensive battle which resulted in a scoreless tie.
Trojans coach Julie Carrington saw the glass as half full regarding the way her girls played.
“Ties can be a struggle when you need the win,” Carrington said. “But on the other hand, the top team in our league couldn’t score against us either so that’s always positive. I try to see ties in a positive light but we would’ve liked to add a loss to Western’s league games and a win to ours.”
Of course, the Trojans (9-4-1 overall, 3-1-1 Sunset League) were hoping for a win after the loss to Cheyenne (6-5-3, 3-1-0) last week, which makes Cheyenne tied with Pahrump.
“I know the girls didn’t want to lose at all today and it helped that’s it’s our Homecoming week,” the coach said.
The coach said her team came out to play and were much more physical in the game than in past weeks.
For most of the year, the Trojans coaches would tell the girls that on defense the girls had to attack the ball with their body and not just a foot. During the game, the girls used their bodies to get in front of the ball. It was almost like watching body checking in a hockey game.
“We take sportsmanship seriously, but we knew we needed to be as aggressive as possible to take this team,” Carrington said. “I hope to see more games played as well as the girls played today. I am very proud of them.”
The Trojans coach also added that if the girls could play as well as they played against Western (8-3-2, 4-0-1), they will beat Cheyenne the next time.
“I believe we can win against the Desert Shields if we play them as well as we played Western today,” she said.
Although the game ended in a tie, the Trojans showed how aggressive their offense could be with five shots on goal in the first half to the Warriors’ two. In the second half, the Warriors came out with more intensity and were even with shots on goal with Pahrump at about five apiece.
The game was almost won by both teams in the second half when each team came close to scoring. For the Trojans, Vaniah Vito had an open shot after receiving a perfect pass, but her shot went over the goal.
Western had a corner shot that ended up with a Warrior hitting the left lower corner of the goalpost.
In the second half, the home crowd showed their appreciation for the sound Trojans defense with loud cheers.
Trojans goalkeeper Noemi Valle-Diaz had 10 saves.
Pahrump’s next game is at Sunrise Mountain (2-4-1, 2-2) on Monday at 3 p.m.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes