Lady Bulldog kickers end season with 2 wins

With no chance of making the post season playoffs the Douglas Lady Bulldogs soccer team and their first year head coach Mario Romero closed out the season last week winning two games over Santa Rita.

On Jan. 22 the Lady Bulldogs were in Tucson taking on the Lady Eagles and came away with a 4-2 win.

It took the Lady Bulldogs 24 minutes to put a score on the board to take a 1-0 lead.

“We came out a bit sluggish the first half, going from the cold effects of last week to playing in 81 degrees weather took a toll on the ladies,” Coach Romero said.

In the 24th minute Elyzabeth Duarte weaved her way through the defenders and found the back of the net to put the Bulldogs on top.

“We had so many opportunities early on in the game that we couldn't capitalize on,” the coach said. “Santa Rita tied up the match in the 31st minute to square up the match.”

Tied at 1-1 at the half the Lady Bulldogs didn't take long to wake in the second half when Duarte scored off a corner kick from Erika Romero. “We've been working hard on corner kicks and set plays,” the coach said. “We have to take advantage of those situations in games. Last week against Nogales we scored three goals off corner kicks. The girls never looked back and controlled the rest of the match.”

In the 50th minute, Kianna Ross found the back of the net from 30 yards out to put Douglas up 3-1.

Seventeen minutes later Yadira Cuevas scored off the left side pushing Douglas’ lead to 4-1.

Santa Rita scored the final goal in the 89th minute pulling within two.

“This was a very nice victory for our girls as we lost two out three matches last week,” the coach said. “We needed to win out the second half of our season we had had any hope of making it into the post season. We came out short.”

Douglas out shot Santa Rita 28-4; goalie Maria Placios had four saves.

Douglas came back on Thursday to beat the same Santa Rita team 6-2 only this time at Douglas High School.

Ross had a career night scoring four goals in her final game. Cuevas had two.

Douglas outshot Santa Rita 36-5; Placios had one save at goalie.

At halftime seniors Elyzabeth Duarte, Kianna Ross and Brianna Salcido were honored along with their parents.

“We've been dealing with injuries all year long,” the coach said. “I've been having to move girls around playing different positions all year. … We will take what we learned this year and build upon it for next year. The girls know we need to work hard in the off season.”

The Lady Bulldogs ends the year 5-7 and 20th in the power rankings.