The Pojoaque Valley High School soccer teams hope to bounce back this week following a tough set of losses at Portales High School Sept. 15.
The Elks dropped a competitive, 3-1 decision to their hosts, showing improvement from a 5-0 defeat in Santa Fe to Monte Del Sol Charter School Sept. 13. With both losses, the Elks moved to 3-5 heading into the newest week of action.
“We are going through some growing pains right now,” Pojoaque head coach for both teams, Juan Francisco Ortiz, said. “We are starting to play together more as a team. We played a lot better (Sept. 15) and we had a nice goal from Christian Olguin, but then in the second half (Portales) dominated possession and had a lot of shots on goal, but our goalie (Jason Lujan) did a good job keeping the ball out of the goal.”
A key first half goal by senior forward Haley Perez was enough to spearhead the Pojoaque girls to a 1-0 win over Monte Del Sol earlier Sept. 13 as the Elkettes moved to 2-4 on the year after a 4-0 defeat at Portales.
“I feel this will give us more confidence going forward,” Perez said. “We have a lot of new girls who aren’t very confident with how they play, but the more they win, the more confident they are going to get.”
In the win, the Elkettes battled playing on extremely thick grass at the City of Santa Fe Municipal Recreation Sports Complex and a very determined Monte Del Sol rally attempt.
“We are used to playing on turf, so the grass is a very big thing for us,” Perez said. “The passes are slower and our kicks aren’t as hard.”
Francisco Ortiz liked the girls’ offensive mindset.
“They are looking to make passes better and working with their communicating,” he said, adding that his goalie Jessica Roybal played a big part in the win. “She is just learning how to play that position, so I am proud of her. She’s learning a lot.”
The win also helped eclipse last year’s season victory total of one win.
“I am happy with the numbers that are out and they come to work every day,” Francisco Ortiz said. “It’s a challenge to get everybody reps and on the field, but it helps to help build the program.”
Both teams played at Desert Academy in Santa Fe on Wednesday (9/19), but those results were not available at Press time.
Both Pojoaque squads play host to Bernalillo High School Sept. 20 with they boys set for a 3 p.m. kickoff and the girls scheduled for a 5 p.m. start.
The two teams host a doubleheader on Saturday against Grants with the girls playing first at 11 a.m., followed by the boys at 1 p.m.
“This week we will try to get a couple of wins (for the boys),” Francisco Ortiz said, admitting he doesn’t know what the girls teams from Grants and Bernalillo play like.”