She should have celebrated a perfect shot, but after curling a right-footed ball from the near side of Ignacio’s penalty area over goalkeeper Rylee Pearson and into the far upper corner, Crested Butte Community School’s Zoe Eymere stood still.  She was silent except for one phrase, quite humorous to say, considering the quality of goal she’d just scored: “I didn’t mean to.”

Having ended the teams’ wintry April 6 match – played at Gunnison High School – in roughly the 65th minute via the ten-goal mercy rule, Eymere actually did the Lady Bobcats a solid by allowing them to begin focusing on not one, but two long-anticipated matches the next morning at Center about 15 minutes sooner.

And IHS’ eagerness paid off.  Not with a win, unfortunately, but with their best overall efforts yet in 2018 in dual 1-0 losses to the Lady Vikings.

“It was a lot of back and forth on both sides,” said head coach Alisha Gullion.  “We came so close to scoring but we just couldn’t get it in the goal.  In the last 40 seconds of the second game, Christina Jenkins had a breakaway, took a shot, and missed by probably only three inches.”

“The first game we held them 0-0 all through the first half,” she noted.  “It wasn’t until about 15 minutes remaining in the second that Center got a goal in.  It was very similar in the second game … held them 0-0 ’til probably the last ten.”

Unavailable for the loss to the #5-ranked [CHSAANow.com Class 2A poll, 3/26] Lady Titans (6-1, 6-1 3A/2A Intermountain), RaeAnn Martinez returned to stabilize Ignacio (0-11, 0-11) in the back third against CHS (2-6, 2-5).  Pearson, however, played comparatively well in her absence, unofficially logging 14 total saves – one denying a first-half CBCS penalty kick – in her debut at the position.

“They were some good games,” Gullion said.  “The girls were fired up … really wanted to pull off a win, but I think … those games will boost their confidence.”

“I am very happy with the progress they are making, and I think they are as well.”

Able to take some time off from competition, recharge and refine, IHS will next see action at 4 p.m. April 19, when the team kicks off in Alamosa.