Turnover is a natural product of high school sports. As such, teams are often lucky to have a group of players who have played together for more than one or maybe two years. The Sedona Red Rock High School girls soccer team has exceeded that.
The Scorpions boast a starting defense of Angela Betancourt, Lizbeth Corral-Diaz, Ariana Parra-Landaverde and Odalis Robles. Not only are all four seniors, but the quartet is in its fourth year as Sedona’s starting defense.
“Our goal is to at least make it to the playoffs,” SRRHS coach Juan Carlos Aguilar said. “It’s important if we can keep the other team from scoring and take care of the opportunities that we have to score. I am not going to say that I’m dependent on my defenders but they really are the core of this team — the identity that we have of a team that’s organized in the back that’s very hard to penetrate.”
Having an experienced back line aids the Scorpions in a number of ways. One, since each player has vast experience playing with the other three, they have a sixth sense about where the others will be at a given time. Each player also has the confidence in knowing that if a mistake is made, an experienced teammate will have her back.
Additionally, given the vantage point that the defenders have, having experienced players back there is a real asset for the rest of a team that — with few exceptions — is otherwise a young group.
“Since we’re back there, we’re able to see the field better and help our midfielders and forwards out a little bit,” Robles said. “Being there helps.”
“The four defenders that have been playing together for four years, we’re able to work as a unit and kind of instruct the rest of the players,” Parra- Landaverde added.
While Betancourt, Corral- Diaz, Parra-Landaverde and Robles have comprised the team’s starting defense for nearly four full seasons now, they haven’t always been the core of the team.
That’s something that developed over the years as each of the four improved individually. With that, the group naturally became stronger. In time, that turned the defense into the Scorpions backbone.
“They improved a lot,” Aguilar said. “In the first year or two, the confidence wasn’t there — or their speed. But they built up. They came to practice in summer. The four of them were the ones that came to every single practice.”
Going forward, the four hope that this season ends with a trip to the state tournament, something that Sedona hasn’t done since their freshman season three years ago.
They also know that however the season ends, the four-year ride will leave them with memories, both on the field and off of it.
“All the bus rides and jamming out before games,” Corral Diaz said. “I’m going to miss playing with such familiar people. After high school, that’s it. You don’t get it back.”
Betancourt noted that she wants the defensive quartet to be remembered as a solid group that always had each other’s backs, as well as the rest of their teammates.
She also expressed gratitude towards her coach for helping make her and her teammates better players.
“He’s put a lot into this team and he’s helped guide us all, a lot,” Betancourt said.
The feeling of appreciation is mutual.
“I just want to say thank you to them for all of these years,” Aguilar said. “I’m going to miss them. They’re the core of this team. Next year we’re going to have to build up.”
