With 25 seconds left on the clock, Trojan Natalie Soto (1) took the soccer ball onto Mater Academy East Las Vegas’ side to take one of the longest shots on the goalkeeper in the game to seal the team’s fate.
The Trojans girls soccer team has a busy week as they are playing a total of three conference games. Their first game of the week was against Mater Academy where they traveled to East Las Vegas to play an away game against the Knights, a team that is near the bottom of the league standings – and the Trojans just buried the Las Vegas school’s chance at making it up the rankings.
Soto took her shot that hit the Knights goalkeeper and freshman Mia Terrezas’ (22) hands for another Trojans goal as the whistle blew to end the first half 5-2.
“These girls have great chemistry,” coach Amy Carlson said about her team. “They know how to move the ball well and up the field.”
The girls from Pahrump were able to score two goals within the first 10 minutes of the game. Pass-after-pass the girls could be heard communicating to one another to get the ball within range, just like Sydney Crotty (8) and Ryleigh Denton’s (13) first three goals.
On Crotty’s second goal, Terrezas took her time to see who was free to pass the ball. In an attempt to pass it to a Knight, the kick was short and went straight to Crotty, who took it right to goal and scored the second goal.
For two goals the Trojans were able to overwhelm MAELV’s defenders. Then in a quick pass down the center, the forward would be alone with the goalkeeper to score. The Knights would switch their approach after this.
“And then they broke down,” Carlson said.
Lost communication
After the Trojans’ first three goals, the Las Vegas school switched up their strategy and the Pahrump players lost their confidence.
“In any game we’ve lost, we’ve definitely beat ourselves versus been beat,” the coach said. “Once they get scored on, they just get in their heads.”
The Trojans were in their head in the middle of the first half.
In the penalty area, the Knights’ Myla Faught picked up a penalty kick just after the 30-minute mark. This came after the Las Vegas team was getting the best of the Trojans defense and taking shots at goal.
Although the Trojans had the lead at 3-1 the team stopped communicating. The team would lose passes and would quickly get the ball over to the halfway line where Madison Williams Mendenhall (12), the Trojans goalkeeper, would have to block their repeated shots on goal.
Mendenhall would jump to the left side of her goal line to save a ball after all the defensive players for the Trojans were unable to stop a kick from the Knights. She would have six saves by the end of the match.
The Trojans would get the ball over the Knights’ side, where the Trojans would kick the ball right into the penalty zone and Natalia Vallin (6) wasted no time tapping the ball in while everyone saw the ball roll across the goal line for another Pahrump Valley goal.
Pahrump Valley’s defensive players were still struggling to get the better of the Knights forwards. Jessica Romero (6), a Knights forward, took the ball on the right side where she could kick the ball up and left of the net for their second goal.
Soto would close out the first half with a kick just above the halfway line on the right side of the field and through the Knights goalkeeper’s hands for a 5-2 lead over MAELV.
In the second half the Trojans were able to keep strong possession of the ball as the team just needed to maintain their lead over the Knights.
The Trojans would get attempt after attempt on goal until Denton tried her second goal from the right side of the field where she took her shot and she hit the top post. It bounced right down in front of Vallin and she scored the Trojans’ sixth goal of the night with over 10 minutes left in the game.
The match would end with a win for the Trojans at 6-2 and the fifth league win for the team.
Not done yet
The Trojans have two more important conference games this week that could be a battle for second place for Pahrump Valley.
Pahrump Valley is currently in third place in the league standings after last week’s game against the Sunrise Mountain Miners. The Trojans will now battle for second place against Sports Leadership and Management, which is currently also 5-1.
Early in the season, the Trojans played at home against the Bulls, where they were given a big loss of 8-0. But on Monday the Bulls just lost their first conference game in a close one against Boulder City 5-4.
The rematch game will be on Wednesday in Henderson at 3:30 p.m. at SLAM for a shot at second place in the league.
The Trojans last big game will be at home against Boulder City, who are at the top of the leaderboard after being undefeated this season. They will play on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Contact Jimmy Romo at jromo@pvtimes.com. Follow @JimmyRomo.News on Instagram.