Sometimes, success for Mingus Union High School soccer is as simple as scoring more goals.
Senior Luis Hernandez, moved up from center midfield to striker by head boys coach Calvin Behlow prior to their Jan. 5 home sectional game against Prescott High School, made the most of his opportunity with two second-half goals in a 4-0 shutout of the Badgers.
The win was the first in Section I for the Marauders [3-3], ranked 25th by the Arizona Interscholastic Association in Division III prior to a Monday, Jan. 11, road game at the team ranked just above them, Independence High School, in Glendale.
Wins over the Patriots and Cactus High School on Friday, Jan. 15, could vault MUHS not just as high as third in the section but back into contention for a postseason bid, awarded to the top 16 teams in the division.
With five games to play on her Division II, Section V schedule, first-year head girls coach Andrea Strobel will likely need to win all of them to have a similar opportunity after being on the other end of a 4-0 final Friday, Jan. 8, at third-ranked Cactus Shadows High School in Cave Creek.
Boys Soccer
Although Behlow’s son, Zeke, a sophomore forward, struck first against the Badgers to help MUHS even its overall record, the Marauders will need to beat the Patriots just to even their overall sectional record at 2-2, much less gain ground on Independence or the six other teams ahead of them in the Section I standings.
“We have a super-strong section,” Calvin Behlow said. “We can’t look ahead to any one team on the schedule.
“We’ve got six games in three weeks and we’ve got to stay healthy.”
Over the two-week holiday break, Behlow decided to move up Hernandez after MUHS scored just one goal in its first two sectional games, losses to Moon Valley High School and at Northwest Christian School.
“That was a very good team,” he said after a 2-1 loss to MVHS in the Marauders’ home sectional opener
Dec. 15. “I’ve watched the video twice now of that game, and it could’ve been 5- or 6-0 with as many opportunities as they got. We actually got some good opportunities when we pushed everybody forward late.”
But the Marauders couldn’t tie the game with just one striker, Zeke Behlow, up front, forcing his father to change their formation.
“We’ve just got to hope that’s the adjustment we needed to make,” Calvin Behlow said. “We didn’t really have enough possessions up in their offensive third, [and] we’ve got to score enough to win.”
After forward Dylan Finger scored off a corner kick by fellow junior midfielder Devyn Spitzke to give MUHS more goals against the Badgers in the first half Jan. 5 than in its previous two games combined, the move seems to have paid immediate dividends.
Although sophomore Andrew Kulis is “big,” “athletic” and “doing good” as the MUHS starting goalkeeper, he’ll have backup for the first time this season Jan. 15 in the form of junior Victor Armenta-Lopez.
Girls Soccer
Strobel’s girls, ranked 29th in Division II, start the home stretch of their schedule with two winnable games — Wednesday and Friday, Jan. 13 and 15, against Sunrise Mountain High School and at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale.
“From what I’ve heard, Mountain Ridge is a team we should be able to beat,” Strobel said. “So that’s what I’m counting on, even if you base it on their stats, which doesn’t always tell you a whole lot.”
Both the Mustangs and the Mountain Lions are in the second tier of the section, but both are also ahead of the Marauders [3-4], who need to build on one victory through five sectional games.
“I think they’re headed in the right direction,” Strobel said after her varsity held Cactus Shadows scoreless through the first half Jan. 8. “They had to work together with their teammates to do that, [which] is just so critical in soccer, and they did it really well as a unit. It doesn’t always win the game, but they look better every game.
MUHS defenders, led by senior Amanda Smith, held off the Falcons until 13 minutes into the second half.
“Once they got the one [goal], the dam broke,” Strobel said. “They were able to keep pretty fresh. We don’t really have a deep bench, and they were sending in six [players] at a time.”
Juniors Sienna Duenas and Holly Johnson, along with freshman Ginessa Altamirano, eventually wore down along the MUHS back line in the second half against a 26-player Falcons roster.
“The girls left it all out there,” Strobel said. “They all played hard and were really exhausted when they got off the field.”
To turn the tide of their sectional fortunes, Strobel is looking more toward three players: Striker Martina Bueno, fellow senior Brenna McCallum and sophomore defensive midfielder Nikki Zielinski.
“She’s a smart player,” Strobel said of Zielinski, a transfer from Sedona Red Rock High School. “She has her own individual skills, such as dribbling, but she is all-around talented.”
McCallum, who is “really strong at holding [and] controlling the middle,” Strobel said, had a goal Jan. 6 in support of Bueno, a “high-end scorer” who scored four times during their first sectional victory, 7-0, against Valley Vista High School.
“We were shooting like crazy,” said Strobel, who also got goals from McCallum and seniors Kassidy Kitchen and Gabi MaKuch against the Monsoon. “We definitely had more possession, by a lot. That makes a difference if we can do that against tougher teams.”
Although Valley Vista was a larger school, the Monsoon was “probably less experienced,” Strobel added, while Cactus Shadows is “just a very big soccer school” with most, if not all, of the more than 50 Falcons in the program year-round club soccer players.
“There were a lot more shots on goal, so many opportunities,” she said. “Not so much with Cactus Shadows — it was more of a defensive game. They were just so well-organized.”
