It had been nearly a month since the Flagstaff girls soccer team played a true home game. The Eagles hardly missed a beat Thursday, defeating Mohave 6-1 at Flagstaff High School.
Since a win over Greenway on Jan. 7, several inches of snow piled up on the Eagles’ field, preventing them from being able to safely play a contest at home. The Eagles technically were the home team against Prescott Tuesday, but the game was played at Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood.
Sophomore Georgia Naleski remembers several practices spent shoveling, rather than training. Eagles coach Savannah Berry said over 100 community members, athletes from other Flagstaff teams, and soccer players and coaches shoveled for several days. Even still, there was barely enough space to play, and the Eagles had to narrow the field.
The circumstances made the victory for No. 5 Flagstaff (10-1, 4-1 Grand Canyon) over the No. 6 Thunderbirds even sweeter.
“It’s really meaningful. I’m glad we got back here and won,” Naleski said.
Flagstaff scored four of its six goals in the span of 10 minutes of play in the first half. It’s the type of production the Eagles have come to expect offensively, and the third time in four matches that they scored six or more goals.
Ciara Garcia led the way with two goals in the game, while Audrey Hutton, Naleski, Taylor West and Nataly Arangure all chipped in one.
However, the Eagles got in some early trouble. Despite controlling the ball for the majority of the first bit of play, they turned the ball over in the 17th minute, leading to a Mohave goal and a 1-0 deficit.
“We just started slow, and sometimes that happens in sports. But like I told them, when you’re playing against the good teams like we have in our region, they’ll take advantage of that,” Berry said.
Garcia’s first goal came just two minutes later, though. It appeared the goal they conceded, paired with a score in response, motivated the Eagles.
“They see that first goal and wake up, and the momentum starts rolling,” Berry said.
Flagstaff scored three more times in the period and led 4-1 at halftime.
Mohave saves the last-second shot but Flagstaff leads 4-1 at halftime.Senior Ciara Garcia has two goals for the Eagles pic.twitter.com/YsooWzOBvj
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