Tigers close regular season with Senior Day rout

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Del Norte senior Brianna Gallegos (26) foots a shot forward as Ignacio’s Ebonee Gomez (left) and others watch during action.


ALAMOSA — Del Norte defended Alamosa High School field with a 9-0 takedown of Ignacio on Friday morning.
With the sportsmanship rule at a ten-goal deficit, the game teetered on the brink of an early finish for the better part of 20 minutes in a ‘will they, won’t they’ dance that ended with the game finally making it to regulation.
Del Norte (10-3-2) took control early and never relented. Lacey Jones would assist Sophie McConnell in the first goal of the game in the first minute. The Tigers shot the lights out, unofficially the orange and black loosed 23 shots in the first half alone.
With Del Norte’s defense keeping the field on a tilt anything not bolted down was getting fired on net. Seniors McConnell, Jones and Kendra Parra each collected 2 goals in the first half of play, a seventh goal was contributed by Brianna Gallegos to put the home team on the score board up 7-0 going into the break.
Coming back from the break things didn’t get any more competitive. A shift in personnel put Del Norte junior Grace Whitehorn on the attacking side of the field.  Whitehorn made good on her offensive opportunity with a goal coming from the half to cut the Del Norte players on the field to 10
Triniti Rivera added goal number nine and grabbed herself some bench along with the rest of the Tiger starters. With 20 minutes remaining in the game, Del Norte’s reserves faced long odds attempting to close the game out, down 11 players to 9. That didn’t stop the opportunities as Alex Golding put the shot that could have ended things prematurely - wide of the near goal post.
With a two-player advantage Ignacio began logging some shots and even came up with some relevant scoring chances to put Myka Glover to work for the first time all game.
Looking forward, the Tigers fall outside the automatic qualifier range as the second-place team in the Southern Peaks league, first being Crested Butte. But  Del Norte unofficially holds the No. 10 spot in 2A soccer according to the Ratings Percentage Index and is in good shape to extend their season.