Already without all three of the players—Nicole Williams, Destinee Lucero (graduated), Amya Bison (concussion)—he’d put between the sticks last spring, seeing 2014’s lone [at present, that is] backup goalkeeper Hailey Benavidez go down with an injury late in last Saturday’s season-opener was probably the last thing Oscar Cosio wanted to witness.

But after new starter Krissy Velasquez’s 79th-minute doorstep robbery of Telluride’s Rachael Repola—already owning a hat trick (goals in the 20th, 52nd, 55th minutes)—not long before the final whistle at IHS Field, the Lady Bobcats’ second-year skipper was still very much upbeat despite his side falling 6-0.

“I think that’s the happiest I’ve been after a loss,” he quipped later in the March 8, afternoon.

Maybe because Ignacio had held the Lady Miners and their first-year boss Lanier Nelson to just six goals, rather than the nine or 10 THS could usually manage.

But maybe it was also because even without a few members of the girls’ basketball team, needing to endure the CHSAA-mandated number of practices to become match-eligible, Cosio suited up 14 players—proving that despite its existence teetering on the proverbial ropes every season, interest in the hard-luck program still hasn’t been knocked out.

Telluride’s Sarah Barr netted the match-winner past Velasquez in the third minute off an assist by Karla Martinez, and the visitors also got goals from Jenni Ruud in the sixth, and Molly Shapiro in the 24th, while firing a media-counted 25 total (15 on goal) shots.  Velasquez totaled 11 stops.

Shapiro’s strike put THS (1-0, 1-0 3A Southwestern) up 4-nil at halftime, when Nelson swapped out starting keeper Whitney Wells for Kenzie Zaumseil, and the pair split the shutout.

Up next for Ignacio (0-1, 0-1) was to be a trip to Pagosa Springs on the 18th, but results were unavailable by the Drum’s deadline.  Next on the schedule is a trip to Alamosa’s all-new facility to face the Mean Moose on April 8.