For Pojoaque Valley High School’s Aaron Cuellar, the final soccer game of his senior year and the season, Oct. 20, could not have gone more smoothly.
The senior bagged four goals and an assist, as the Elks routed the Questa High School Wildcats, 7-0.
“Yeah, it was pretty good,” Cuellar said. “I left with some goals.”
Cuellar had the capacity to score more goals, but opted for some unselfish play in the second half. He consistently broke through the Questa defense, and caused havoc, before laying off the ball to one of his teammates.
But, for the Elks, aside from Cuellar, the finishing touch was left at home. Twice at the beginning of the second half, Cuellar put a perfectly weighted ball at the feet of sophomore Isaiah Saenz, who failed to put the ball on target.
“We passed the ball well,” Pojoaque head coach Juan Ortiz said. “We shared the ball well. I wish we would have finished a little better.”
Two underclassmen found the back of the net for Pojoaque, those being striker Eli Molina and center back Sebastian Rubio.
With the team at a commanding lead, Rubio opted to leave his defensive post when the Elks were on offense, and raced up the field in attack. He missed a couple of chances, before rocketing a ball past the goalkeeper from the left side.
Ortiz wished that a few more of his younger players could have found the back of the net.
“For their confidence, for the guys that are coming back next year, it would have been nice to get them a goal,” Ortiz said.
The final goal of the game came from the only other senior on Pojoaque, Kevin Martinez. He shot the ball from 25 yards out, and as the ball dipped, the goalkeeper fumbled the ball. It ended up fitting its way between his legs, and slowly crossed the goal line. Martinez capped off the Pojoaque scoring at seven goals.
This was the most dominating win of the season for the Elks, who did not score in any of their five wins with a differential of seven or more goals. Their next biggest win of the season was an 8-2 victory, Sept. 23, against Desert Academy.
The Elks will lose two seniors to graduation. For most teams, that is a promising number, meaning nine starters will remain on the field next year.
But, Cuellar and Martinez are two staples of the Pojoaque midfield. Cuellar, in particular, operated at the heart of the Elks’ team, pulling the strings on offense and making sure to track back on defense.
Ortiz is hoping that some of the younger players will be able to step up, and fill the shoes of Cuellar in the center of midfield.
Cuellar is still waiting on a successor, but he retains a positive outlook.
“They need to step up a lot more,” Cuellar said. “They have the ability, but they think too much and make their own mistakes.”