The Sedona Red Rock High School soccer teams, who each claimed road wins last week, suffered the opposite fate away from John Ordean Memorial Stadium this week.
Against Veritas Preparatory Academy, in only their second 3A Region 1 game of the season, the girls team fell 5-1 before the boys lost 3-2.
According to girls head coach Juan Carlos Aguilar, the lack of bodies on his team took its toll; he had two players who play regular minutes out injured, and originally only three substitutes.
“We held them to 2-1 at halftime, we were doing good,” Aguilar said. “In the next 10 minutes we saw how tired we were and it was about time for them to score.”
Aside from having few players on his team, seven are freshmen and six are starters. A freshman herself, forward Amari Sonn scored the lone goal for the Scorpions.
Aguilar said that the team took the risk of pressuring the Falcons up top, and their last three goals were scored on the counterattack.
“I’m very happy with their performance,” he said. “They left everything on the field.”
The team [6-3-1, 0-2] goes on the road again at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at Anthem Preparatory Academy.
The boys team [8-3, 1-1] suffered its first region loss of the season, losing 3-2.
Scorpion co-coach Johan Lagercrantz said that the game-winner came from a questionably offside breakaway with 57 seconds left.
“We should’ve had the game but that’s not the way it turned out,” Lagercrantz said. “We were pressuring them and they had a counterattack. That’s pretty much all they had.”
Freshman forward Ben Philo, who had eight goals in his previous three games, equalized on a free kick to bring the halftime score to 1-1. Red Rock sophomore forward Evan Favorite, who played as a centerback in the team’s 3-0 section opener at home on Saturday, Jan. 14, again pulled the team level.
“After that we had more possession in the second half,” Lagercrantz said. “We should’ve scored one or two more goals.”
Lagercrantz added that it was a quality game, with both teams playing well on defense.
“It’s not that we missed lots of opportunities,” Lagercrantz said.
But, as it has been throughout the season, problems with defending set pieces again reared its ugly head, being the culprit to one of their goals conceded.
He was satisfied with his team’s play, but hopes to improve in set piece defense moving forward.
The Scorpions continue section play at 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20 at Anthem Preparatory Academy.
