The Sedona Red Rock High School girls soccer team will need to go back on the road for its first win after going 0-2-1 in its season-opening tournament at Cave Creek.

Senior Alejandra Betancourt scored a goal to help the Scorpions tie Shadow Mountain High School, 1-1, after they were outscored 12-1 in losses to Youngker High School and La Joya Community School at the Desert Cup Classic.

“We hope that will give us an idea of what kind of pressure we can apply to these kids,” said head coach Juan Carlos Aguilar. “The girls are ready for the season; we just need to work [on the] small aspect of the game.

The first SRRHS game for postseason power points will be Tuesday, Dec. 8, at Buckeye Union High School. The Scorpions’ home opener is Thursday, Dec. 10, at 4 p.m. against Wickenburg High School.  

The early challenge for Aguilar, besides improving on a two-win record from last winter, has been replacing the production of five graduated seniors, four of whom were all-section starters.

“I have more quality than quantity,” Aguilar said. “We just have to pray we don’t have any injuries.”

While grades and medical issues will sideline two of his 16 players until January, seven returning seniors look to fill the void and improve the record for the Scorpions. That starts at goalkeeper, where freshman Braeden Feldtkeller will allow her sister, Mason, a senior, to move up to her more natural position of forward.

“She’s training,” Aguilar said. “I hate to put her on the spot, but that’s the only option with a little bit of experience that we have there. After that, I don’t have anything else.

“I didn’t have a goalie last year. I just put one in [who] was willing to do it.”

All-section selection Naomi Garcia is back to anchor a “big, strong” defense, Aguilar said, along with fellow senior Makenzie Meacham, who can move up to midfielder.

“When we’re attacking, we have eight pushing up front, and two holding in the back,” Aguilar said. “I’m training the two outside wings to go up there too.”

Betancourt will be one of those wings pinching up in the formation, along with fellow senior Bella Turolla.

“I like for them to be moving everywhere, especially in the midfield,” Aguilar said. “I want to be able to score this year.”

Ever since their final loss against a Division IV schedule Jan. 28, Betancourt dedicated herself to being the Scorpions’ leader in the offseason by practicing with Aguilar, along with sophomore midfielders Alicia Pallares and Marissa Pedroza.

“They’re pushing up a lot,” Aguilar said. “I want to put the pressure up top, not waiting in the back.

“We train a lot to go [on] offense, but last year, they were too afraid to go up. They want to be safe, back off a lot. I want them to challenge, not to be scared.”

Several concussions sustained by players last season curtailed the team’s aggressiveness and toughness mentally, which Aguilar hopes to improve, in part, by trying to work senior Michaela Cunningham into a position, even though this is her first year playing soccer after a seven-year football career.

“Athletes like that are natural,” Aguilar said. “They can do anything you ask them to do at any position.

“The main thing is, if I choose a position for her, if she makes big mistakes there, she’s going to feel not happy about it. So I have to see where I can use her.”

For the full season schedule, please see the Friday, Dec. 4, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.