With not much time remaining Tuesday afternoon, Montezuma-Cortez’s Di’Nya Manuel probably knew she may not get another chance to complete a desired soccer feat. One which a teammate had already accomplished.
Bayfield girls soccer goalkeeper Lily Muir, however, had even less time to deny her. After slowing the freshman’s straight-on, 79th-minute shot, Muir couldn’t twist backward, drop to all fours and then scramble swiftly enough to stop the ball from sneaking over the line – giving Manuel her first prep-level hat trick and the Panthers girls soccer squad a thorough 9-0 road win.
“I tried to take some riskier shots,” Manuel said. “Some did not work out but that last one was really good. I enjoyed playing that. Our combinations, our passes …. I think we did really great with that, honestly.”
Manuel had a part in that as well; moments before her clincher, she’d sent in a pass, partially deflected by BHS’ Kieley White Thunder, to senior Jordi Mahler, who then rocketed a 78th-minute shot over Muir and into the far upper corner for the guests’ first second-half goal after a fierce first-half flurry.
Freshman Mia Glazner initially got Montezuma-Cortez (4-1-1 overall, 2-1-0 3A Intermountain) on Wolverine Country Stadium’s scoreboard in just the second minute via an assist from freshman Kyndall Schmitt. Schmitt struck in the seventh after gaining possession of a Manuel shot blocked toward the goal line, wide of the post at Muir’s right, by BHS’ Kambria Bailey, and then shooting through Muir’s ready mitts.
Only 17 ticks after the subsequent kickoff, Glazner converted a takeaway into a 3-0 advantage and Manuel made it 4-0 after receiving a close quarters Schmitt pass and then forcing her way through four Wolverines for a 12th-minute marker. Manuel’s second score came in the 17th as she won a 1-v-1 against a drawn-out Muir, who tried smothering the attempt just inside Bayfield’s 18-yard box by sidestepping the goalie and angling the ball low and right.
Capitalizing upon a poor clearance of a crossing pass played by senior Luna Moore, Glazner completed her first-ever hat trick in the 25th minute and increased the visitors’ advantage to 6-0. Still not finished, M-CHS booked a seventh goal in the 30th as Mahler zipped a shot low and to Muir’s back post.
BHS (0-4-0, 0-1-0), generated one true scoring opportunity, but senior Sydney Rey’s free kick, taken during the second half, from at least 35 yards away curved right of M-CHS keeper Raegan Veach and safely out of bounds.
The sophomore needed to make just one save, dropping to her knees and scooping up a 50th-minute Bayfield pass sent too far ahead of Rey, but packing enough pace to force Veach into leaving her line to stop it well short.
“As a team we really want to work together and communicate. I mean, some of us – like, half our team – are freshmen, you know, and then we’ve got a bunch of seniors who want to accomplish great things,” said Manuel. “So as a team, we want to push to get closer and closer to our goal of winning league.”
Having secured their fourth shutout victory – and third on the road – this spring, the Panthers will next host 3A Rifle on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Wolverines will travel Friday to Gunnison and face Crested Butte Community School (5-3-2 overall, 2-0-0 2A Intermountain-South). The neutral-site kickoff at Western Colorado University’s Katy O. Rady Field is set for 5 p.m. Bayfield will return to resume league play the next afternoon at 2 p.m. against Alamosa.
