The Durango High School girls soccer team beat Palisade 2-0 at home on Tuesday evening, but the game looked like it was heading for a 0-0 draw in the first half.
But Durango senior defender Lauren McClellan broke through early in the second half for a goal, sparking the Demons’ offense. Palisade had no response in the second half and the Demons won their seventh consecutive game after a 0-3 start to the season.
“Palisade played some good defensive tactics on us and slowed us down,” Durango head coach Zac Keeler said. “But our team had patience, we worked some things out at halftime and it finally started to pay off with us keeping the ball and not allowing Palisade to do anything clever with it.”
Durango improved to 7-3 overall and 6-0 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League while Palisade dropped to 5-3-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the 4A/5A Southwestern League.
Early in the first half, neither team could connect enough passes or put enough moves together to consistently threaten the other side. Palisade had a few long balls that sprung the Durango defense into action, but none of them challenged Durango junior goalkeeper Ryne Neiman with a tough save.
Durango tried to play through the middle but couldn’t find the space against the Palisade back line. When the Demons played through the outside, it looked like they had never played on their quick turf, with passes rolling away from their directed target and out of bounds.
Keeler said the Bulldogs were keeping five players in the back early in the game which caused some errant through balls by the Demons. It took time for the Demons to find the right spaces and the right through balls.
Senior midfielder Peyton Cioppa was one of the few Demons who could beat her defender in the first half with her speed and deft touch. But Durango couldn’t capitalize with any good shots.
The Demons finally connected a great pass that led to a chance with about 10 minutes left. Saren got the ball in the middle of the field and played a great through ball with her left foot. Sophomore Ellis Campbell received the pass, fired a hard shot that the keeper had to dive on to save. The game was tied 0-0 at halftime.
Durango almost had the first goal of the game off a corner with 30 minutes left. A failed clear went right to McClellan, who fired a shot from outside the 18-yard box and it hit the crossbar.
Shortly after, Saren had a great run down the left side and forced a corner. This time, the ball trickled right to McClellan and she found the back of the net from a yard or two out. Durango led 1-0 with 26:10 left.
“I would love to see it in the net more,” Keeler said about his team’s corner kick play. “We’ve had some very good deliveries; once we figure out how to win those balls in the air, we’ll be putting a lot more goals in.”
The goal seemed to energize the Demons on offense, as they kept possession and created multiple chances in the next 15 minutes. Campbell had a beautiful strike with her left foot that looked like it was headed into the lower left corner, but it hit the post.
Durango did a much better job of preventing Palisade from threatening with the long ball. The Bulldogs didn’t have any good chances and Neiman wasn’t threatened in the second half.
Saren sealed the game with a rocket from about 18 yards out. Her shot crushed the upper left corner as the Demons led 2-0 with five minutes left.
Durango plays at Fruita Monument on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats are second in the league at 4-0-3 and the game could decide the league champion.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
