Fortunate just to have enough players available to comprise a full 11, and even more overjoyed that his Bobcats then survived to see halftime Tuesday afternoon, Ignacio head coach Oscar Cosio's undying faith was nearly rewarded at the expense of-ironically-3A/2A Southwestern leaders Alamosa.
Not that the Mean Moose were in danger of suffering a colossal upset; eight goals within only 26 minutes on the speedy IHS Field had already secured the visitors their seventh overall victory in 2015, and sixth in SWL play.
AHS' ninth goal in the 46th, and the mercy-rule win-on the heels of an April 3rd 8-nil home rout of Telluride-was inevitable.
But Ignacio still had hope, something Alamosa skipper Martin Wolffe knew to alertly recognize.
"We've got to always respect our opponents," he said afterwards. "No matter what the (scoreboard) says, we've got to respect them. And sometimes we come out flat.and they pushed the ball forward."
And mounted their most credible threat at stealing away the guests' shutout.
Physical forward/midfielder Tristan Boone, a junior and one of just a handful of upperclassmen on a roster usually listing at least 14 freshmen and sophomores on a good day, managed to force her way inside Alamosa's 18 and, brushing aside one defender, managed to put a solid left boot into the ball with her sights set behind backstop Breanna Broyles' right shoulder.
But using her height, the 5'11" junior coolly snared the 49th-minute shot for her first and only save.
IHS will make the short trip to Bayfield to face the Wolverines at 4 p.m. for the first time this season. Coming off a hard-to-swallow 2-1 loss at Pagosa Springs last Thursday, BHS (2-2, 2-2) headed out to Center on Wednesday, winning 2-0.
Against PSHS (3-1-1, 3-1-1), Bayfield's goal came from an incredible distance-at least 35 yards-off the foot of defender Lydia Larson in the 30th minute and over Sara Chronowski in net. The senior goalie's surprise, however, still couldn't match that of the elated freshman still standing near the midfield line.
Springs, however, finally got through on keeper Savannah Kaufmann in the second half. Kaufmann did finish with an unofficial 15 total stops to Chronowski's four.
