Lady Horsemen hit their stride in 9-1 romp
when St. Michael’s scored 64 goals to start the season 9-1, but played just two teams that ended up with winning records (Los Alamos and Santa Fe High).
“They’ve come a really long way,” Horsemen head coach Anthony Cassaro said. “They are learning a new system, getting to know a new coach and new ideas. Thankfully, they are hitting their stride right now.”
In order to find that stride, though, the Lady Horsemen had to take a step back. That came playing in a district in which every team reached the postseason. St. Michael’s found itself at 2-4 in district after a 2-1 loss to Santa Fe Prep on Oct. 9. But the Lady Horsemen won three in a row before a season-ending loss to Albuquerque Sandia Prep.
That included a 2-1 win over the Lady Bobcats on Oct. 16.
“I think it challenged us,” said St. Michael’s senior striker Claire Lee, who had a pair of goals and an assist. “We had to have more time to adjust to the new system. I think it’s definitely working.”
And it showed in the goal distribution. Six players scored, with Olivia Farrar leading the way with a hat trick, but each goal had an assist. Scheider was responsible for three of them, while eighth-grader Grace Sandoval had a pair as she consistently found the open player — usually in the front of the net.
St. Michael’s fashioned a 6-1 lead at the half, then the Lady Horsemen tried different lineups for the rest of the match.
“It’s pretty fun when we can put those passes together,” Lee said. “We’ll see, though, against the harder teams.”
ATC, though, had its moment of glory amid an afternoon of struggles. The Phoenix caught St. Michael’s on its heels in the eighth minute as Amberley Garcia raced down the right sideline past the Lady Horsemen back line and crossed the ball to Xitlally Estrada-Perez on the right flank. Esterada-Perez leaped into the air and one-touched it into the upper half of the net to cut the margin to 2-1.
The moment was short-lived, though, as Sandoval found Schneider for her lone goal in the 15th minute, starting a 10-minute stretch in which the Lady Horsemen scored three goals.