By Polo C’ de Baca
For the Mountain Mail
SOCORRO – The Lady Warriors finally had their day and their way with the Class 5A Alamogordo Tigers defeating them for the first time ever in the finals of the Socorro Cup Tournament 3-2 on Saturday. Socorro led at the half 2-0 and went ahead 3-0 with just over 10 minutes left in the game. The Tigers threatened in the final minutes scoring two goals.
The Socorro girls will be tested next at the Roswell Goddard Invitational Tournament in Roswell. Socorro will be the only Class 3A participant at the Cielo Grande Soccer Complex in Roswell. They will play Class 5A Carlsbad on Friday. On Saturday they’re slated to play Class 4A Roswell. Goddard, Silver City and Clovis are among the other teams.
“The reason we play these tougher teams in big tournaments is to prepare us for district and for state play,” Socorro coach Mitch Carrejo said. “We rise to the occasion every time.”
All three of Socorro’s goals in the championship game with Alamogordo were scored by freshman Dezirae Armijo. Credit for the assist on the first goal goes to Amanda Saenz. A pass from Jennell Lopez set Armijo up for the second goal. Katy Welch got the assist on the third goal.
“The girls just came up and played hard aggressive soccer,” Carrejo said. “We’ve been practicing our passing and it worked. They’ve really committed themselves this year.”
Alamogordo defeated Bloom-field 6-0 in the first round of the Socorro Cup. Then they beat Belen 5-1 in the semifinals. Belen had defeated Hatch in the first round. In first round play Grants defeated Valencia 3-1 and Socorro shut out Monte del Sol 8-0. Socorro then defeated Grants 4-1.
“I really feel good for the girls. They deserve it, they’ve worked so hard, Carrejo said. “I’ve had the group of seniors for four years. So it’s nice to see the seniors winning our tournament.”
This is the first time that Alamogordo has lost at this tournament. The last time they played in the tournament they won it three times in a row.
“Playing against Alamogordo is fun,” Socorro goalkeeper Mileva Gacanich said. “It’s a little challenging, but it’s fun.”
“The last year they won it they broke my daughter’s nose,” Carrejo said. “So I guess I can say this is payback for that. I talked to her this morning and she said, ‘Beat Alamogordo. They broke my nose.’ So I’ve got to call her and tell her we got payback.”
Carrejo said that the Lady Warriors played as a team and would not credit any one player. He said that they all played awesome. Armijo capitalized on the timely passes she got by being in position to score. The Lady Warrior defense held. It was a total team effort. Alamogordo raised Socorro’s anxiety level when they made a run and scored two goals scored in the last minutes of the game. Carrejo attributed the let-down to fatigue. The Lady Warriors had played three games in just under 24 hours.
“They’re hurting a little bit,” Carrejo said. “We’ve been going hard. We’ve had maybe six days off since we started our three-on-threes.”
Gacanich is a junior and this is her third year playing keeper on the varsity.
“It means a lot (to beat Alamogordo),” Gacanich said. “This is the first time we’ve beat them and it’s really cool. I felt a little jumpy in the last couple of minutes but that was about it. We were getting tired.”
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