Own goals help Sandia Prep to quarters romp

SANTA ANA PUEBLO — Despite a chilly, breezy downpour that left the soccer fields slick and testy, it could not erase the chalk from seeding board as each higher-ranked team breezed through the quarterfinals of the Class 1A-3A girls high school state tournament Wednesday.

That set up meetings Thursday between top seed Sandia Prep and No. 4 Bosque in one semifinal and No. 2 Socorro against No. 3 St. Michael’s. No. 1 SANDIA PREP 5, No. 9 SANTA FE PREP

1: On paper, and even perhaps in the final scorebook, the game should have been and ultimately was fairly lopsided.

But when it comes to reality, well, not so fast, said Sundevils coach Matt Westerlund.

“Santa Fe Prep was the most organized team we’ve seen in a long time,” he said. “They were some of the most well-organized defensive players we’ve seen all season.”

That defense, however, ended up being the Blue Griffins’ (6-12-1) downfall as they conceded two own goals in the closing three minutes of the first half.

“It was unfortunate for them, scoring both of them on own goals,” Westerlund said. “But it was deserved on our end.”

The Sundevils (20-1) played high pressure throughout the match, which led to the mistakes, but those goals also helped them develop more of a rhythm in the second half.

“It calmed us down as opposed to going into halftime tied,” Westerlund said. “Some of the people were putting a little extra pressure on themselves and this put them at ease. It allowed us to have a different mentality in the second half so it was very important.”

Maggie Hashagen then finished the second half with a hat trick to remove any possibility of Santa Fe Prep comeback. No. 4 BOSQUE 4, No. 5 EAST MOUNTAIN 0:

The Timberwolves (14-7) created strong early pressure but were unable to capitalize.

And shortly before halftime, the Bobcats (9-52) caught East Mountain a bit too far forward and struck on a counterattack by Aviva Elliott.

That momentum led to two more quick goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half as Bosque cruised to the finish. No. 3 ST. MICHAEL’S 5, No. 6 ROBERTSON 1:

Although the Horsemen (16-4-1) had won both meetings against their District 2-1A-3A rival Cardinals (12-8-2), one of those matches was a squeaker at 2-1 in overtime. So to pull off a strong result in the state tournament was good for St. Mike’s, said coach Maggie Feil.

“We had a really solid first game and a less solid second time so to able to earn that better win against them, back if you will, was really a good morale boost,” she said. “Our girls played with a strong, united front and were working the ball around. We used team unity for getting that ultimate prize.”

It helped that Rachel Morgan scored twice in the first half to give the Horsemen a nice cushion at halftime. What didn’t help was St. Mike’s giving up an own goal midway through the second half that made it close again.

Morgan ended up with a hat trick with a late goal and she also added an assist, while Olivia Farrar had two assists, including one to her sister, Gabrielle Farrar. No. 2 SOCORRO 10, No. 10 REHOBOTH CHRISTIAN 1: Kaylene Baca had two goals and four assists, Consuelo Apache had two goals and two assists, and Kayla Botko added two goals for the Warriors (18-3) in the strong finish over the Lynx (7-11-1).