Saturday belonged to the little guys of Monte del Sol boys soccer.

The 5-foot-6-and-under gang of Matt McChesney (5-6), Luis Lozoya (5-3) and Shalto Dasher (5-1) each scored a goal as the Dragons won the Desert Academy Invitational by beating the host Wildcats 3-0 at Salvador Perez Park.

Their performance, coupled by four saves from Dragons goalkeeper Gabe Zamudio, made it a day worth celebrating along the Dragons sidelines.

"Luis, Shalto and Matt are really coming into some creative triangulation there," Monte del Sol head coach Mazatl Galindo said. "They are just really feisty and working really hard. Not only are they fighting bigger guys, they are recouping balls that a lot of defenders don't think are a big deal."

McChesney scored in the first half as Monte del Sol (3-1) took a 1-0 lead at the break. Dasher added his midway through the second half.

Lozoya's goal came off a steal from McChesney, who picked Desert Academy 'keeper Alden Kokesh's pocket in the penalty box in the 79th minute. Wildcats head coach Rob Lochner pleaded guilty to the mistake.

"I told him to move the ball up and they picked his pocket," Lochner said.

Desert Academy (3-2) outshot the Dragons 12-9, but that's where Zamudio's play was key. His best play came in the first half on midfielder Alex Kokesh's shot from outside the box, as he was out of position on the play but recovered to make a diving stab.

That helped him earn defensive MVP honors, while Desert Academy's Ram Rattan-Khalsa took the top offensive honors.

In the fifth-place match, Desert Academy's junior varsity lost to East Mountain 5-1.


The first two minutes of the District 2A-AAA match against the Rams was picture perfect Horsemen soccer.

So was the last 10 minutes of the first half at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex.

The rest?

"Well, the second half wasn't great soccer," St. Michael's head coach Merritt Brown said. "We were just kind of doing what we needed to do but not being very consistent about it."

The good was Jackson Baca's one-touch goal off a Lorenzo Medina cross in the 20th minute for 1-0, St. Michael's. Baca made it 2-0 when he scored off a Leland Pascual through-ball in the 35th minute.

The second half was a penalty kick festival with Pacual and Travis Ish scoring on a pair, while Portales beat Horsemen 'keeper Arthur Dejarnette on its penalty try in the 75th minute.

St. Michael's is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in 2A-AAA


Scoring parity went out the window, thanks to Richard Ramirez.

The midfielder finally broke through with his first goal in the 37th minute after receiving a cross from Jesus Nieto in the box. He followed that with goals in the 47th and 75th minute to take the team lead in goals with the hat trick in a nondistrict match in Los Lunas.

"It was just a matter of time," Jaguars head coach Eugene Doyle said. "Once he got the first one, it made it a lot easier for him. You could tell he was frustrated."

Hector Oquedo opened the scoring in the 8th minute off a Douglas Membraño assist. Kevin Gomez played all 80 minutes in goal and came up with five saves for Capital, which improved to 2-1.



Jennifer Gutierrez scored twice and had an assist while eighth-grader Emma Zuckerman scored a goal in her first match with the varsity, leading the Lady Dragons to a nondistrict win.

Monte del Sol led 4-0 midway through the second half, improving its record to 3-1. In case you're scoring at home, that's the best start in the program's five-year history.

"Every year we've got more and more kids coming out," said Lady Dragons head coach Justin Najaka. "In our five years we've had all 11 players for a game once. Most of the time we've played with nine or 10. You have to start somewhere, but I'm glad that we finally have enough players to where we don't have to worry about that anymore."

One of the newbies is Zuckerman. She was part of a mid-field shuffle necessitated by the absence of starting center-mid Riel Bellow. Bellow went down with a sprained ankle against Capital last week and wasn't cleared to play in the match.

Pojoaque scored a pair of late goals as Kimberly Babicke and Cristina Carbajal found the back of the next in the final 11 minutes.


With improved timing comes improved scoring opportunities.

The Blue Griffins are reaping the benefits of that as they earned their first District 2A-AAA win at Sandia Park, improving to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the district.

Madeline Fort broke a scoreless match with a goal off of a cross from Julia Bertram in the 47th minute. Five minutes later, Fort found Brigid Quinn on a through ball for 2-0.

The Lady Timberwolves halved the margin on Lila Murray's direct kick from just outside the penalty box in the 61st minute.

Santa Fe Prep head coach Steph Coppola liked how her team was attacking, especially Fort, who moved from center midfield to the outside.

"Today was a breakthrough for her," Coppola said. "She was tremendous when she was settling the ball (off of passes) and then moving it around, which kept the defense on their heels."



Tim Vida threw two touchdown passes, including one of 38 yards to Trey Correa in the fourth quarter, as the Son Blazers rallied for the nondistrict victory in Las Cruces.

The Bobcats (1-1) opened a 13-point advantage on Eric Vigil's 2-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and Carlos Herrera's 9-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Ron De Vargas converted the first point-after and missed the second.

Mesilla Valley (1-1) closed to within 13-7 before intermission on Vida's 21-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Torres and the first of two Torres PAT kicks.