Vail Christian girls soccer holds off Colorado Rocky Mountain School for first win of the season

The Vail Christian girls soccer team came into Thursday’s game against Colorado Rocky Mountain School with a proverbial chip on its shoulder.

It was only a week ago when the Saints fell to the Oysters 4-0.

“After that loss, we were just like, we do not want to lose again,” said senior Rebecca Florez. “Just a quick change of mindset and we were all just way more determined in this game.”

Thanks to Florez’s goal halfway through the second half, the Saints were able to hold on for the 3-2 win Thursday in Edwards, their first victory of the season.

“This really gave us the confidence we needed,” Florez said.

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The Saints got on the board three minutes in when Eva Soto took a Lindsey Whitton corner kick that rebounded off an Oyster and one-touched the ball over the goalie’s head.

“Not going to lie, it was one of my best goals,” Soto said with a shy grin. After the Oyster’s equalized things a few minutes later, Betty Bartock put the Saints back up 2-1 going into halftime. Vail Christian coach Andrea Juskaitis said one key in flipping the script from the two squad’s April 4 meeting was practicing a formation change earlier in the week.

“We really utilized some of the midfields to help us offensively and that really changed everything for us I think,” the second-year coach said before adding that being on home turf also helped.

“We weren’t happy with how we played (last week) and really just shifted our mindset this week and knew this is a field we’re comfortable with,” she continued. “It’s a fast field. We knew we could beat them.”

Whitton tried to stretch the Oysters with her speed, but her centering attempts came up empty through the first 20 minutes of the second half. Then, a ball bounced off the shoulder of the Oyster’s keeper and into Florez’s lap.

“I did not see that coming,” Florez said of her good fortune and wide open look. “I just kind of took that opportunity.”

Florez collected the rebound and two-touched it into the net from the left side of the box to put the Saints up 3-1 with 21 minutes to go. It was smooth sailing from there until Kate Deardorff arched a free kick into the top-left corner of the net with less than 10 minutes to go.

Reinvigorated, the Oysters applied extra pressure and kept the ball on their side of the field for most of the rest of the game.

“Definitely a little stressful,” Saints goalie Olivia Hughes said of the increasingly frantic final minutes. “But our defense and our offense was great. To see them working as a team — they were doing so great and I had so much trust in them.”

Deardoff received another free kick from the left side, but her shot went about two feet over the right corner post. Vail Christian batted down the defensive hatch to run out the clock for the one-goal win.

“I just wanted to make sure every player marked a man and they were on that person,” Juskaitis said. “(Make sure) that we contained them and didn’t let them take a shot or make a pass.”

In handing Colorado Rocky Mountain School its first league loss, the Saints improved to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the 2A Intermountain North. They host Moffat County on Saturday before traveling to Lake County on Monday.

“This is a huge momentum boost,” Soto said. “I think we know what to do, we know how to win, we know how it feels to win. I think we’re going to stick with that.”