Ibarra hanging tough in goal for Wildcats
El Dorado witnessed first hand one of the best soccer teams in the state this season when the Wildcats hosted Conway. The Wampus Cats entered the game as the 6A state champions and left Memorial Stadium with a 6-0 victory.
Miguel Ibarra, El Dorado’s sophomore goalkeeper, didn’t stop every shot but he played better than the final score would indicate. Coach Rex Hayes felt Ibarra withstood Conway’s barrage of shots about as well as could be expected.
“Everyone will tell you, your goalkeeper has to be a little crazy. He is not afraid to put his body on the line to stop balls. He split his eyebrow and his cheek. Somebody kicked him going in for a ball,” Hayes said of Ibarra, who has the perfect “crazy” demeanor to be able to bounce back in the next game.
“That’s part of it, having a mindset of, yeah, you’re hard on yourself but you’re going to forget pretty quickly. If you wallow in it much longer, it’ll affect your game. He loves the challenge of it so I’m sure at the moment, he was excited to be getting some shots. But at the same time, six goals is tough. It’s not just him, either. He just happens to be the one between the goal and them. But they had to get through 10 other players to get down there. I think he handled it really well, considering. He’s got a really good mentality.”
Ibarra, the team’s backup last year, is in his first season as the Wildcats’ starter. Hayes said his improvement has been impressive.
“Really great kid, he came in last year not having played a ton of soccer and wanted to play keeper. He worked his butt off all freshman year, a little over the summer, sophomore year, he really hit the ground running,” said Hayes. “He doesn’t play any other sports. He really put the work in and it’s obvious. It shows just how much he’s improved.
“He’s worked hard and he deserves every minute he’s been playing.”
At 5-foot-8, Ibarra is undersized for a goalkeeper. But Hayes believes his heart and attitude could go a long way as he continues to learn the position.
“His ability to come out of the box and put people under pressure is phenomenal,” Hayes said. “He’s getting more acrobatic as he plays and learns how to fall and how to land. It’s only going to get better.”
El Dorado beat Sheridan 4-0 at Memorial Stadium before tying the Yellowjackets 1-1 on the road on Friday.