With the Sedona Red Rock High School boys soccer team 8-0 and top-ranked in Division IV, and with two teams ranked ahead of the Scorpions girls having already lost, the time was ripe for them to make a move into top three territory Wednesday, Jan. 13, in their Section III home opener.
“I’ve been playing soccer since my freshman year, and we haven’t been this good in a while,” senior forward Mason Feldtkeller said. “If we keep playing as a team, from what I’ve seen, there’s only a couple teams we have to play really hard against. For the first time in a while, this team’s really going to do well.”
It almost didn’t happen against Cortez High School, 1-5 coming into the game at SRRHS, as the teams dueled through two 10-minute overtime periods. But two goals by Feldtkeller saved a 3-2 victory and a top-five ranking.
“It’s all the girls, and the hard work they’re putting on the field,” head coach Juan Carlos Aguilar said. “They never gave up.
“How long [are] they going to last? I don’t know. We will keep supporting them until then. We’re small, but we have a big heart.”
Feldtkeller punched a penalty kick into the right corner of the goal, past Colts sophomore goalkeeper Angela Romero, with four-and-a-half minutes to play in the second overtime for her second game-winning goal of the season.
“I’m surprised I even got it because they didn’t foul me that bad,” Feldtkeller laughed. “But I made kind of a fuss about it.”
It was a second chance reluctantly accepted by Feldtkeller, who also booted a goal in with 1:15 to play in the first overtime, after her attempt to win with 30 seconds to play in the second half clanged high off the crossbar.
Feldtkeller’s penalty kick averted a shootout after the Colts tied the game three minutes into the second overtime period off a penalty kick for tripping.
“After they called overtime, I didn’t even want to play,” Feldtkeller said. “I ended up scoring twice, but I was like, ‘I’m so tired.’”
The Scorpions [3-3-1] had 12 other shots on goal in the second half but were too sluggish to power through a score off passes centered from the right side of the Colts defense.
“Everything’s been a good challenge for us,” said sophomore Marissa Pedroza, who got SRRHS on the board first with a quick boot in from five yards out at 31:25, off the pass from junior Malia Sonn. “I’m just glad we’re winning now. I feel pretty good, [but] sore, tired.”
The Scorpions’ ranking, which could go as high as third, will be tested on a two-game road swing through Saturday, Jan. 16.
“I feel pretty excited and happy about our ranking,” Pedroza said. “I didn’t think we’d make it that far.”
For the next home game and other updates on the top-ranked Scorpions boys soccer team, please see the Friday, Jan. 15, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
