It doesn’t seem like there has been many home soccer matches for the Montezuma-Cortez High School girls’ team this spring. They will play their final game at home at 5 p.m. today, April 18, at Norman Johnson Memorial Field. The Panthers will take on Montrose in a Southwest League contest.

Seniors Margaret Selzer, Kim Phelps, and Krissy Thomas will be honored before the game.

"Montrose has a good team but it is one we can play with," MCHS head coach Barb Cullington said. "We played them very close (lost 3-0 on March 24). It was 1-0 until very late in the game when they scored two quick ones at the end. But this is certainly a team we can beat if we play well."

The Panthers, 2-7-1 overall, are coming off a split of games from this past weekend. They beat Central of Grand Junction 2-0 Friday night, April 14, but fell 8-0 to a veteran Fruita-Monument team on Saturday morning, April 15.

Against Central, which has a young squad like the Panthers this season, Cortez got plenty of scoring opportunities early. The Panthers pushed up well and kept the ball on the attacking end of the field during the early minutes. However, the Warriors took several shots on goal as the Panthers were having problems clearing the ball out.

Then on a breakaway Jennifer Siracusen shot and missed but Phelps was right there to put the ball into the net with 12:07 gone in the first half. The Panthers’ 1-0 lead quickly went to 2-0 when just a minute later Emilie Lanier booted the ball from some 25 yards and the ball bounced high and went into the goal. That was all the scoring the rest of the game.

Phelps made a shot from the wing that was short. Linda Smart made a shot but it went into the Central goalie’s arms. Siracusen fired the ball wide and then missed a chip shoot at point-blank range at the 25-minute mark. Cortez kept the pressure on the Warriors. Central did get a few shots off, one almost went in but backup goalie Kelli Unrein, in for Nikkie Fuchs who was out of town, made some great saves.

"She was having a great day in the net. When a goal is on, a team is hard to stop," Cullington commented.

In the second half, Central had several opportunities to score. But Cortez always seemed in control. The Panthers got a breakaway chance but couldn’t get the shot off at the 47-minute mark. At the 50-minute mark, Central took shot after shot but none of them found the net.

The Panthers went on the attack. Felice Lucero just missed and Smart missed. The Warriors came back and shot but Unrein made another great save at the end of the game, preserving the shutout.

"That win was an important confidence builder for us. We played well," she said.

Cortez, though, could not keep up with the veteran Wildcats the next morning.

"We played well for the first 12 to 15 minutes. But then they started scoring and dominating. They did what they wanted to do," Cullington reported.

The Panthers fell behind 4-0 at the half. Unrein did not have as good of a day as she did the day before. Fruita shot from the outside well. When the Panthers tried to stop the outside, the Wildcats went inside.

However, Cullington was pleased with the fact the Panthers took a lot of shots on goal.

"Offensively, we played very well. We made lots of shots. We showed we had some offense," she noted.