The Sedona Red Rock High School girls soccer team finally received its holiday reward Thursday, Dec. 17.

In the Scorpions’ first game in two-and-a-half weeks, freshman Braeden Feldtkeller had 10 saves and her older sister, Mason, a senior, kicked in the game-winning goal in the second half of a 2-1 win at Buckeye Union High School.

“There was a lot of questions they had to answer for themselves,” head coach Juan Carlos Aguilar said. “They were very proud at the end, as I was, because they never stopped playing. That’s one of the most important things for them.”

Sophomore striker Marissa Pedroza gave the Scorpions a 1-0 lead going into halftime with her boot at the 30-minute mark of the first half.

“That was all Marissa,” Aguilar said. “She took the ball at [mid]field and took it all the way to the goal.”

With 30 minutes remaining in the game, the Hawks responded to tie the score. But junior Malia Sonn stayed aggressive, feeding Mason Feldtkeller with less than 10 minutes to go for the game-winner.

“They were pushing up, trying to get out of the pressure we had,” Aguilar said. “Besides the goal, in the majority of the second half, we dominated with ball position.”

That happened because Aguilar went to a three-forward look to apply added pressure on the young Hawks defense. The results, with Feldtkeller, Sonn and senior Valerie Luyckx paid off for the first girls soccer win of the year.

“That was our plan,” he said. “We push up top, all the time, with our forwards and midfielders, then my defense will push up a little. That’s how I believe we’re going to win games.”

Aguilar doesn’t always plan on applying such pressure on opponents’ forward lines. But he decided to employ it against the Hawks, who had scored six goals through their first three games compared to just one for the Scorpions.

“If they don’t have forwards, I have to rely on other things,” he said. “It’s not because I don’t want to — I don’t need to.”

Although the Scorpions have just one tie and one loss to show for the first half of their winter season — the same as last season, when they lost one more game at the more competitive Tournament of Champions in Cave Creek — Aguilar believes that record isn’t reflective of how good his team really is.

“This is a small team,” he said. “With only 13 players, I pray we stay healthy. But I’ll tell you what: They work hard.”