Santa Fe High rallies to get key win before district challenge
Sep. 18—In a week full of tests for the Santa Fe High boys soccer team, Saturday's might have been the most telling of the Demons' future.
Facing a Rio Rancho Cleveland team ranked in the top-four of Class 5A, the Demons overcame a sluggish first half and a barrage of shots near the end of regulation to earn a 3-2 overtime win at Santa Fe High.
Cleveland led 1-0 in the first half and 2-1 midway through the second, but the Demons responded each time. In the 87th minute, Nathan Kingston took a pass from James Vigil and fired a laser from 25 yards that hit the upper corner of the goal, bounced off Cleveland goalkeeper Joaquin Armijo's back and into the net for the golden goal.
The win comes off a 2-1 win over Albuquerque Cibola on Thursday, in which the Demons (8-2) bounced back from an own goal to down the Cougars in overtime.
"Cleveland was the best all-around team we have played all year," Santa Fe High head coach Chris Eadie said. "They have a really sound back line with good technical skill. They're physical and fast. It's so hard to break those guys down."
The Demons had to navigate the strong defense of the Storm, which did not allow a shot on goal until the final five minutes of the first half. Cleveland (7-3-2) held a 1-0 lead at the half, but Santa Fe High tied the score early in the second half when Kingston scored the first of his two goals off an assist from midfielder Evan Eadie.
Chris Eadie said Kingston was almost a scratch from the starting lineup as he dealt with an illness for most of the week.
"He only made one training session, on Friday, and he was definitely out of sorts for the first half," Chris Eadie said.
When Cleveland took a 2-1 lead later in the second half, Demons midfielder Pablo Canivell tied the score with his fifth goal of the season. Eadie said the Storm had four or five good chances to re-take the lead in the final 10 minutes of regulation but the play of Santa Fe High goalkeeper Henry Kuchta kept them off the scoreboard. Then, defender Everest Kessler cleared a corner kick shot that ricocheted off of his chest as he patrolled the near-side of the goal.
With the nondistrict portion of the schedule complete, the Demons enter District 5-5A play with a huge match at home against fellow district contender Albuquerque High. Chris Eadie said the win over Cleveland gives the Demons, the reigning state champions, a claim to being one of the contenders in 5A.
"Cleveland is a state contender, and I think we have proven we should be considered as well," Eadie said.
