Sedona Red Rock High School’s boys and girls soccer teams earned road wins on Jan. 10, with the boys trouncing Tonopah Valley High School 7-1 while the girls defeated the NFL YET Academy 5-0 in their second matchup of the season.
On the boys side, freshman forward Ben Philo bagged five goals to follow up his hat trick from Jan. 7 against Paradise Honors High School. Sophomore forward Evan Favorite also scored and sophomore midfielder Clark Diaz finished off the rout with a penalty kick goal.
“We played really well, we had a really good game, especially the first 25-30 minutes,” Red Rock co-coach Johan Lagercrantz said. “Our forwards just outsprinted their defense and converted.”
The Scorpions [8-2] had already found the net five times within the first 20 minutes. Their goals from open play were simply created by putting through balls in behind the defense to Philo and Favorite.
Lagercrantz said that the field dimensions were smaller than usual, and a result they played a more defensive formation.
The one thorn in the side of their defense, however, has been defending set pieces, which is exactly how the Phoenix scored.
A corner kick was not cleared as quickly as it should, according to Lagercrantz, and the ball fell to the goalline where the Phoenix tapped it in. In all, 20 players got minutes for Red Rock.
The team plays at 3 p.m. Jan. 14 when it hosts 3A Region 1 foe Page High School.
The girls team played the Eagles of the NFL YET Academy for a second time, winning 5-0. In its previous matchup on Dec. 15, Red Rock [6-1-1] won 4-0 at home.
“Everyone played good,” head coach Juan Carlos Aguilar said. “We were pretty much attacking all the time, we moved the ball really well, attacked the defense and scored.”
Junior midfielder Alicia Pallares and freshman forward Amari Sonn scored two goals each, and freshman midfielder Jackie King scored one.
Defensively, the Scorpions were relatively unchallenged, giving up only one corner kick in the entire game. Aguilar said his team would recover the ball in midfield and return to attacking.
“They let us kind of play our game and defend all the time,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said that he had his starters score a few goals, then played his three substitutes for the entire second half in order to rest starters for Jan. 14’s 3A Section Region 1 opener at 1 p.m. at home against Page High School.
