Even in soccer, numbers can be cold and cruel.

In this case, a 4-2 loss at Scottsdale Christian Academy on Jan. 29 sent the Scorpions [9-9-1] to No. 19 in the Division III rankings, three seeds of short of a state tournament berth.

The final seed to make it in the playoffs at No. 16 was Scottsdale Christian Academy. The Scorpions would have finished ahead of the Eagles in Section I with a win.

“Sometimes the score doesn’t reflect how well a team has played — or hasn’t,” head boys soccer coach Cindy Hauserman said. “In this case, we dominated play, both halves, and never stopped fighting, as our fullbacks kept winning balls and passing them forward resulting in a lot of shots pinging off the metalwork.”

That kind of luck was what would go against the Scorpions and be on the side of the Eagles, Hauserman said, as she also credited SCA junior goalie Jack Johnson with a solid game.

“Our ball movement was excellent and our team defending was really strong in our middle third, which is something we’ve been working on achieving,” she said. “We developed some beautiful play but just couldn’t get our final balls into the back of the net.”

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, Feb. 5, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.