A stingy defense and prolific offense have helped Eldorado, the favorites to win the 5A title, to a 17-1 record.
Photo courtesy of Patsy Langlitz
When the
Eldorado (Albuquerque) girls soccer team allows a goal, the players tend to get a little ornery.
Luckily for the Eagles, they have yielded just five goals in 18 games this season.
"It definitely makes us mad," said center back
Ariana Shams, who along with
Christi Aragon,
Shelby Zellner and
Kelly Burton form perhaps the best back line in New Mexico. "We can give you a play-by-play from all of the goals we've allowed this year. Most of them have been communication mistakes where we just didn't talk enough together."
The Eagles (17-1-0), who are the top seed in the 5A state tournament, have a first-round bye and play the Albuquerque-Hobbs winner in a quarterfinal matchup on Nov. 7.
One of the most storied programs in the state — Eldorado has won 10 state titles in addition to being the runner-up six times — would love nothing more than to cap a marvelous season with another championship.
"At Eldorado, it has always been about winning the state tournament," Eagles coach Paul Maestas said. "The regular season means nothing at this point. At the end of the day, we want our season to end in the state final."
Valerie Maestas (3) and Alexa Genas (8) are
prolific goal-scorers for Eldorado.
Photo courtesy of Patsy Langlitz
Even though Eldorado has been downright stingy defensively, its offense has been superb as well. Led by playmaking forward
Alexa Genas (20 goals, 15 assists) and midfielder
Amanda Rudolph (15 goals, 11 assists), the Eagles are averaging 4.7 goals per game.
Both players are technically sound and strong on the ball, and Genas possesses tremendous breakaway speed. Here's why Eldorado is the favorite to win it all: it has a number of players capable of finding the back of the net.
In addition to Genas and Rudolph, the team has two other players —
Morgan Zuniga (13) and
Valerie Maestas (10) — who have scored double-digit goals.
The Eagles have scored 10 goals — yes, 10 — four times this season, and nine goals in another match. Their only loss was a 1-0 decision to Volcano Vista (Albuquerque) on Sept. 12, a team they had beaten just one week earlier, 2-0.
"The focus this year has been becoming more attack-minded," coach Maestas said. "I knew this team was really strong offensively, and sometimes our scoring gets overlooked because we've been so good defensively."
The Eagles suffocate teams with an attacking style — both offensively and defensively — so players from opposing teams rarely have much time to look up and find an open person before someone is on them.
When Eldorado's sensational backline allows an offensive surge — rare as it may be — goalkeeper
Morgan Divine has been there to provide blanket coverage. Divine has a miniscule 0.310 goals-against average.
"She's awesome," Shams said. "We trust her to have our back when we make mistakes."
Eldorado's success can be attributed to many factors, including talent, coaching and an undying work ethic. However, Shams said the team's biggest trump card has been trust and chemistry.
"We communicate on the field so well because we spend so much time off the field together," Shams said. "Talking with each other on the field to get things done is like second nature, and we're lucky we have such good chemistry."
Because of the chemistry, Shams said, players work harder for each other and are less liable to blame each other when things go wrong.
And that's the true definition of a team.
